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For the first time since the 2021 national championship game, Gonzaga and Baylor will do battle on the hardwood this upcoming season.
The two powerhouse programs have scheduled a non-conference game for Dec. 2, 2022 at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls, S.D.
“I’m really excited for this early-season matchup against one of the sport’s premier teams,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said in an official release. “Baylor Basketball has so much respect for Coach Few and the entire Gonzaga program, and we share the same scheduling philosophy about testing ourselves early in the season. This will be a terrific event for college basketball in one of the game’s most unique venues at the Sanford Pentagon.”
The game will be the first time the two teams have met in the regular season since 2012. Baylor comfortably captured an 86–70 victory in the 2021 national championship game, but Gonzaga won 83–70 when the programs squared off in the second round of the 2019 NCAA tournament.
“We’re excited to play such a talented opponent in a great venue,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said in a statement. “We have tremendous respect for Coach Drew and his program. A game like this showcases college basketball, and we thank Lea Miller-Tooley and the Sanford Pentagon for helping put it together.”
Baylor and Gonzaga are the only two teams to have reached a No. 1 ranking at some point in each of the last three seasons and both are expected to be competitive again in the 2022–23 campaign. The Bears followed up on their 2021 championship with a 27-win season last year, while the Bulldogs made their seventh consecutive appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
