‘We don’t have time to pout.’ Looking to shake discouraging loss, Gonzaga faces Kentucky team in similar position

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The stretch of the college basketball calendar colloquially known as “Feast Week” ended on Sunday, though you wouldn’t know it based on the sheer number and quality of games that have taken place since.

Anyone looking for a second helping of hoops hasn’t been disappointed with a full slate of blueblood showdowns and ranked matchups that began Tuesday with No. 5 UConn traveling to No. 21 Kansas, No. 4 Duke hosting No. 15 Florida and No. 16 North Carolina visiting No. 18 Kentucky.

Wednesday’s menu delivered more of the same with four ACC/SEC challenge matchups, including No. 6 Louisville at No. 25 Arkansas, and a Big Ten game between No. 22 Indiana and Minnesota.

As for Friday’s schedule? A lighter load across the board with a main event that shouldn’t be missed: No. 11 Gonzaga vs. No. 18 Kentucky (4 p.m. ) at Bridgestone Arena.

A standalone game airing on ESPN2, the fourth installment of a six-year series between GU and UK should bring “Feast Week” entertainment value to the first week of December.

And that’s to say nothing of what it represents to the teams participating.

Gonzaga has spent the last nine days recouping from a 101-61 loss to Michigan at the Players Era Festival. If it was difficult to watch last Wednesday’s championship unfold in real time, imagine what Gonzaga players went through rewinding tape from a game that highlighted the many areas they were exposed. Shot quality, shot-making, offensive rebounding, defensive coverages, effort … the limited space on a news page prevents us from printing the full list.

Needless to say, transitioning from Michigan review to Kentucky prep couldn’t come soon enough for the Zags (7-1).

“I’ve never been involved with anything like that, so this is going to be a great challenge and learning experience for me,” Few said after the Michigan loss. “But that being said, we had an incredible November up to this point prior to two hours ago. We can draw on that and they can certainly be humbled when they watch film with me.

“We’ll move forward, we don’t have time to really pout. We’ve got an incredible December coming up. Just bang, bang, bang with some really big-time, competitive, high-level games. We’ve got to go back to what we were two hours ago and not ever show this again or else it’s not going to be very fun this year.”

Kentucky hasn’t experienced a loss of that magnitude, but Tuesday’s result against North Carolina – a 67-64 defeat at Rupp Arena – invoked a similar, if not stronger, reaction from fans.

The Wildcats (5-3) have a shaky resume, soundly beating five low-major opponents but coming up empty-handed against all three power-conference teams they’ve faced – Louisville, Michigan State and North Carolina – while dealing with a mix of short- and long-term injuries.

Kentucky will look like a different team a month from now, when projected lottery pick Jayden Quaintance – an Arizona State transfer the Zags encountered last season – is fully recovered from an ACL tear and impact transfers Jaland Lowe (Pitt) and Mouhamed Dioubate (Alabama) are healthy, but another setback or two in nonconference play could permanently scar the Wildcats’ NCAA Tournament resume.

“You can’t allow that (to snowball),” Pope said after the UNC loss, a game in which the Wildcats went 10 minutes, 25 seconds without a field goal in the second half. “We’ve got to go through the grieving process and get back to work. I do think we are making some strides in some areas. I thought we had some positive play from several guys, I feel like we found a little bit of ourselves in this game. There’s no safety net right now. We just have to get better.”

Gonzaga and Kentucky will be drawing motivation from different sources Friday. The Zags are out to prove the gulf between them and college basketball’s upper tier isn’t as large as it appeared against Michigan, which climbed to No. 3 in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll. The Wildcats need a breakthrough win to validate the moves they made this summer, not to mention the funds required to get a few of those transactions across the finish line.

Pope said Dioubate (ankle) won’t be back to play Gonzaga and Lowe (shoulder) went through a full-contact practice Thursday to determine if he’d suit up for the first time since a Nov. 11 loss to Louisville.

The Wildcats are just 1-7 in their last eight games against ranked opponents. Historically, the Zags have been resilient after losses, dropping consecutive nonconference games on just two occasions since the 2011-12 season – against Kentucky and UConn (2024-25) and Tennessee and North Carolina (2018-19) .

“After two losses in a row (against ranked teams), you can’t be more motivated and this game is probably going to be the toughest one so far,” Kentucky forward Anrdrija Jelavic said. “We’re going to turn this anger into motivation and then we can change our trajectory.”

Gonzaga owns a 2-1 record in the current series with Kentucky, dropping last year’s overtime matchup at Climate Pledge Arena despite building an 18-point lead early in the second half.

The Zags and Wildcats each bring back three players who appeared in that game. Graham Ike scored 28 points for GU in the loss and will be eager to turn things around after experiencing one of the least productive nights of his career against Michigan, scoring just one point on 0 of 9 shooting.

Versatile guard Otega Oweh is Kentucky’s lone returning starter. Pope surrounded the SEC Preseason Player of the Year with talented players in the backcourt and frontcourt, but Oweh and numerous Wildcats have struggled to settle into new roles, as evidenced by Tuesday’s loss to the Tar Heels when UK shot 23 of 53 from field and 1 of 13 from the 3-point line.

Pope’s players have been itching to get back on the floor since the final buzzer sounded Tuesday at Rupp Arena. In Gonzaga, they’ll encounter a team just as desperate to erase the past.

“There’s nothing wacky about their resume except for Michigan,” said Pope, who faced Gonzaga annually during his time in the WCC at BYU. “You watch that film and you’re like, Michigan, are they Lakers or the Celtics? They’re good and so is Gonzaga. It was an anomaly.

“I’ve been battling (Few) for what seems like 100 years. If he’s not the best in the biz, he’s one of them. They play incredibly fast, they’ll dominate you on the glass, they’ll kill you with paint points.”