Gonzaga to open against Kansas State in first round of Players Era Festival
May 21-Gonzaga's road to another championship game berth at the Players Era Festival will start with a Big 12 program under the guidance of a first-year coach. Then Mark Few's team could go through two of the three opponents they faced last season at the Las Vegas tournament.
After Thursday's bracket release, the Zags can now plan for their first-round opponent and other potential matchups at the multiteam event taking place over Thanksgiving week at T-Mobile Arena and Michelob Ultra Arena.
Gonzaga will open against Kansas State on Nov. 24 at T-Mobile Arena, marking the first matchup between the programs since 2013. The Wildcats recently moved on from coach Jerome Tang after four seasons and hired Belmont's Casey Alexander, who won at least 20 games each of his seven seasons with the Bruins.
Times and television broadcast details for all games will be announced at a later date. All Players Era games will be televised on ESPN channels after the network signed a multiyear agreement to serve as the tournament's exclusive broadcast partner.
After an off day on Nov. 25, Gonzaga will return to face either Alabama or Baylor in a second-round game at T-Mobile Arena on Thanksgiving. The Zags opened last year's Players Era event with a 95-85 win over the Crimson Tide. Gonzaga has extensive history with Baylor, most recently playing the Bears in a 2024-25 season opener.
Depending on results of the first two games, Gonzaga could face one of four teams on the bottom half of the bracket in its third contest at T-Mobile Arena: Michigan, Creighton, TCU or Miami.
The Zags suffered the biggest loss of the Few era when they were pummeled by Michigan, 100-60, in the championship game of last year's Players Era tournament, roughly five months before the Wolverines went on to capture the national title. GU could face first-year coach Alan Huss and Creighton twice during nonconference play, with the teams scheduled to meet in the second game of a home-and-home series at Omaha's CHI Health Center.
The two teams that emerge with 3-0 records from either side of the 16-team bracket will play in the Nov. 28 championship game at Michelob Ultra Arena.
Gonzaga, a preseason top-10 team that returns three key rotation players, will open the tournament against a Kansas State program replacing all five starters and returning just one reserve from 2025-26.
Andrej Kostic, a sophomore wing who averaged 5.2 points in 23 appearances last season, returns to a program that's added 10 Division I transfers and two freshmen. The group of transfers includes Brandon Rechsteiner, who averaged 12.0 points at Colorado State, and Montana Wheeler, an 8.5 point-per-game scorer at Bradley. Rechsteiner is the only incoming Kansas State transfer who averaged double figures at his previous school.
Of the seven teams Gonzaga could face in its first three matchups at the Players Era Festival, just three, Michigan (No. 3), Alabama (No. 8) and Miami (No. 21), appeared in the latest version of ESPN's way-too-early Top 25 rankings.
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