The biggest shock of the week — if not longer — in college basketball came Thursday night in the Pacific Northwest when Loyola upset Marymount Gonzaga No. 6 in the kennel 68-67. A flurry of this magnitude means streaks and droughts have been detonated galore in Spokane, Washington.
Gonzaga started the evening with the longest home win streak in Men’s Division I. The NCAA officially recognized that it was 76 games, although the series at The Kennel, Gonzaga’s on-campus home ballpark, was 75 straight. Earlier this season, Gonzaga beat Kentucky at nearby Spokane Arena, contributing +1 to the now-broken series.
The win for LMU (14-7, 4-3 WCC) marked a visitor’s first win against the Bulldogs (16-4, 5-1) at McCarthey Athletic Center since Saint Mary’s almost exactly five years ago: Jan. 18. , 2018.
The Lions, who were 16.5-point underdogs, ended a 32-year drought of futility at the Gonzaga campus. Her last victory at GU came in 1991, when LMU passed its peak as a program in the late 1980s. LMU also went on a 25-game losing streak against the Zags; he celebrated his last victory in this series on February 18, 2010 at the LMU.
LMU senior guard Cam Shelton was a standout on Thursday night, notching a game-high 27 points alongside nine rebounds. The Lions also picked up 15 points from junior guard Jalin Anderson’s bench. Shelton’s right-hander with 14.7 left proved to be the game’s winner.
For Gonzaga, All-American nominee Drew Timme had a team-high 17 points and seven rebounds. On the game’s final possession, Timme put a hard screen on Shelton at the top of the key, freeing him for a pick-and-roll drive to the rim – but his shot in traffic was blocked by LMU reserve Michael Graham. A desperate recovery and heaven by Julian Strawther never stood a chance.
Thursday night also marked the first time in 83 games that a ranked team of Gonzaga lost to an unranked opponent; most recently in November 2019 against Michigan at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas. Gonzaga had been flirting with defeat in the conference all month. It took second-half rallies to escape against San Francisco, Santa Clara and BYU, winning those three games by eight points total.
Gonzaga’s defeat also means Saint Mary’s, who are yet to lose in conference play, take first place in the WCC. The last time the Zags didn’t top the WCC leaderboard was on February 10, 2018, after a win at Saint Mary’s leveled rivals in the loss column.
Beating a top-10 team is rare for a program like Loyola Marymount, who last accomplished the feat against USC in the 1961 NCAA tournament, according to ESPN Stats and Information.
The result, a Quad 3 loss for the Bulldogs, dropped Gonzaga from ninth to 14th at KenPom.com. Auburn’s 28-game home winning streak is now the longest in the country.