The 1978–79 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Gonzaga University during the 1978–79 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. Members of the Big Sky Conference, the Bulldogs were led by first-year head coach Dan Fitzgerald and played their home games on campus at Kennedy Pavilion in Spokane, Washington. They were 16–10 overall and 7–7 in conference play.[1][2][3]
| 1978–79 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball | |
|---|---|
| Conference | Big Sky Conference |
| Record | 16–10 (7–7 Big Sky) |
| Head coach |
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| Home arena | Kennedy Pavilion |
| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weber State † | 10 | – | 4 | .714 | 25 | – | 9 | .735 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Arizona | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 14 | – | 14 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Idaho State | 8 | – | 6 | .571 | 14 | – | 13 | .519 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Montana | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 14 | – | 13 | .519 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gonzaga | 7 | – | 7 | .500 | 16 | – | 10 | .615 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Montana State | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 15 | – | 11 | .577 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Boise State | 6 | – | 8 | .429 | 11 | – | 15 | .423 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Idaho | 4 | – | 10 | .286 | 11 | – | 15 | .423 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † Big Sky Conference tournament winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gonzaga tied for fourth in the regular season standings but did not qualify for the four-team conference tournament. They lost their final game to Boise State in overtime and were on the short end of the tiebreaker with Montana for the fourth seed.[4][5][6]
Senior center Paul Cathey was named to the all-conference team and four Bulldogs were honorable mention: guard Don Baldwin, guard Eddie White, forward Carl Pierce, and forward James Sheppard.[7][8][9]
Hired in April 1978, Fitzgerald was previously an assistant at Santa Clara; he was also an assistant at Gonzaga during Adrian Buoncristiani's first two years (1972–74) and a teammate from high school (St. Ignatius) in San Francisco.[10][11]
This was the sixteenth and final year in the Big Sky Conference for charter member Gonzaga; in the summer they moved to the West Coast Athletic Conference (WCAC), trading places with Nevada.
References
edit- ^ "Final college basketball standings". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). March 5, 1979. p. 3B.
- ^ "College basketball standings". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). February 27, 1979. p. 21.
- ^ "College basketball standings". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). February 26, 1979. p. 4B.
- ^ "Overtime! Bad news for WSU, Gonzaga..." Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). February 26, 1979. p. 23.
- ^ Brown, Butch (February 26, 1979). "Big Sky playoffs next; Zags out". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). p. 24.
- ^ "Big Sky". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. February 25, 1979. p. 4B.
- ^ "All league: Newman on Big Sky second unit". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). March 7, 1979. p. 3B.
- ^ "Cathey named All-Big Sky". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. March 7, 1979. p. C1.
- ^ "3 Wildcats on all-Big Sky team". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). UPI. March 7, 1979. p. E4.
- ^ "Gonzaga picks Dan Fitzgerald". Spokane Daily Chronicle. (Washington). April 17, 1978. p. 17.
- ^ "Gonzaga hires cage coach". Lewiston Morning Tribune. (Idaho). Associated Press. April 17, 1978. p. 2B.
External links
edit- Sports Reference – Gonzaga Bulldogs: 1978–79 basketball season
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