No. 6 Gonzaga recorded a blowout 101-63 win over No. 8 Baylor on Monday at Spokane Arena in one of the biggest nonconference games of the 2024-25 college basketball season. The Bulldogs trailed 1-0 in the opening minute and used a near wire-to-wire effort to add a marquee win to their résumé.
Gonzaga guard Nolan Hickman scored a game-high 17 points, and star big man Graham Ike added 15 in the victory. Eight players on Gonzaga’s roster scored at least five points, with five scoring in double-figures. Mark Few’s squad went into halftime with a 49-30 lead and used a 16-2 run in the second half to pull away for good after Baylor cut the deficit to 13 points.
Baylor guard VJ Edgecombe, a projected top-five pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, struggled in his first college action. Edgecombe missed his first four shot attempts before finally knocking one down in the final moments of the first half. Edgecombe finished with four points, six rebounds and two blocks. Miami transfer Norchad Omier scored a team-high 15 points for Baylor.
Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule includes games against Kentucky, UConn, UCLA and Baylor over the next month and a half before conference play starts at the turn of the calendar year. Baylor is set to face UConn, Arkansas and St. John’s before the gauntlet of Big 12 play begins.
- Baylor shot 3 of 21 from the 3-point line.
- Gonzaga has won nine consecutive season openers
- Gonzaga’s 38-point win is the is the largest by any team in a season opener vs. a top-10 opponent
- This was Gonzga’s largest win vs. an AP top 1- tean and is Baylor’s largest loss vs. an AP top 10 team.
- Gonzaga went 13 of 31 from beyond the arc.
- Gonzaga guard Khalif Battle scored 12 points in his Gonzaga debut. He is at his fourth different school after playing previously at Butler, Temple and Arkansas.
- Gonzaga scored 46 points in the paint. Gonzaga also got 42 points from its bench.
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