The biggest shock of the week — if not more — in college basketball came in the Pacific Northwest on Thursday night when Loyola Marymount upset No. 6 Gonzaga 68-67 at the Kennel. An upheaval of this magnitude means streaks and droughts galore have erupted in Spokane, Washington.
Gonzaga entered the night with the longest home winning streak in Division I men’s basketball. The NCAA officially recognized it was 76 games, although the streak was 75 at The Kennel, the Gonzaga’s place of residence on campus. Earlier this season, Gonzaga defeated Kentucky at nearby Spokane Arena, contributing +1 to the streak, which is now kaput.
LMU’s win (14-7, 4-3 WCC) marked the first time a visitor has beaten the Bulldogs (16-4, 5-1) at McCarthey Athletic Center since Saint Mary’s almost five years ago to the day : January 1st. 18, 2018.
The Lions, who were 16.5-point underdogs, ended a 32-year drought of futility at the Gonzaga campus. Their last win at GU was in 1991, when LMU was in the process of descending from its peak as a program in the late ’80s. LMU also ended a 25-game overall losing streak against the Zags; his last victory in this series came on February 18, 2010 at LMU.
LMU senior guard Cam Shelton was outstanding Thursday night, scoring a game-high 27 points on top of nine rebounds. The Lions also had 15 points off the bench from junior guard Jalin Anderson. Shelton’s right-handed runner with 14.7 left turned out to be the game winner.
For Gonzaga, All-American candidate Drew Timme had a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds. On the final possession of the game, Timme placed a hard screen on Shelton at the top of the key which freed him for a pick-and-roll to the rim – but his shot into traffic was blocked by the reserve LMU Michael Graham. A desperate recovery and uplift by Julian Strawther never stood a chance.
Thursday night also marked the first time in 93 games that Gonzaga lost to an unranked opponent; this last happened in November 2019 against Michigan at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Gonzaga had been flirting with a conference loss all month. It took second-half rallies on the road to break away against San Francisco, Santa Clara and BYU, winning those three games by a total of eight points.
Gonzaga’s loss also means Saint Mary’s, which has yet to lose in conference, is in first place in the WCC. The last time the Zags weren’t atop the WCC standings was on February 10, 2018, after a win at Saint Mary’s tied the rivals in the loss column.
Beating a top-10 team is rare for a program like Loyola Marymount, which last achieved the feat in the 1961 NCAA Tournament against USC, according to ESPN Stats and Information.
The result, a Quad 3 loss for the Bulldogs, moved Gonzaga from ninth to 14th on KenPom.com. Auburn’s 28-game home winning streak is now the longest in the nation.
