SPOKANE, Wash. — Preparing for Texas Tech is no easy task. Gonzaga men's basketball coach Mark Few knows this firsthand as his Bulldogs fell to the Red Raiders in the Elite Eight in 2019.
"This is one of those things that.. All coaches know just how good and hard Texas Tech is," said Gonzaga head coach Mark Few.
Sophomore guard Julian Strawther recalled watching the Elite Eight game when he was a recruit in Las Vegas.
"I was down to my final five schools, but for the most part I knew I was already coming to Gonzaga, so I was watching as a Gonzaga fan at that point, so I was pretty hurt," he said.
In fact, Gonzaga has never beaten Texas Tech. The Bulldogs are 0-3 against the team from Lubbock.
"I didn't know we were 0-3, so something's got to change this weekend, definitely something's got to change," Strawther said.
The Red Raiders use a unique style of defense that is tough to crack. This is something Rasir Bolton is familiar with as he spent two seasons in the Big 12 at Iowa State, where his team never beat Texas Tech. He's hoping to do so as a Bulldog.
"You know there may be a little bit added.. Took a few butt whooping's, but at the end of the day I want to win every basketball game," said senior guard Rasir Bolton when asked if this game means a little more to him. "They're tough, they're disciplined, they follow their game plan all the way through. They really stick to their defensive game plan and stay disciplined. I think that's the best thing."
"Any time we play anybody that he's gone up against many times he wants to beat them pretty bad," Strawther said. "He's just telling us they are going to try and muck the game up on defense and create as many turnovers as possible. That's the game they want to play, so we just can't give in to that."
The Zags have already put a thumping on a team that plays the same style, an impressive 86-74 win over Chris Beard's Longhorns. Beard, of course, the coach who built Texas Tech into the program it is now
Mark Adams took over for Beard who left for Texas after spending years as an assistant under Beard and has kept the same game plan. As Few believes, it's more second nature to this Texas Tech team.
"It was new to Texas, you could tell. This team, it's been engrained in Texas Tech for quite some time," Few said. "I'm sure, Texas, in due time will get it.... It's definitely a part of the culture and substance at Texas Tech."
However, "if it ain't broke. Don't fix it." Drew Timme scored 37 points in the win over Texas. It may be Timme-time once again in order to get another win.
"If we can get him the ball as much as possible, I mean, we saw him against Texas, against the same type of defense, when we got Drew the ball it was obvious he had a field day. So, we're going to try and do the same thing and stretch them out and make the simple play," Strawther said.