The roughly 1,200 students who occupy the lower bowl on the northside of the McCarthey Athletic Center have had a major hand in creating an unparalleled home-court advantage for the Gonzaga men’s basketball program over the last two decades.
No other program in the country has a higher winning percentage at home over the last six seasons than the Bulldogs, who are 90-3 at The Kennel in that span and once won 75 straight there during a five-year stretch from 2018-2023.
The talent and coaching on the floor obviously speak for themselves. Meanwhile, Gonzaga’s student section, better known as the Kennel Club, does its part to impact the game through energizing pregame rituals that even some of the players take part in from time to time. ESPN’s College Gameday experienced that in front of a national TV audience when the popular pregame show visited Spokane in February 2023 for a top-25 matchup between Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s.
NCAA basketball analyst Andy Katz recognized the Bulldogs’ rowdy student as one of the best in the country in his rankings of the top 10 student sections in college basketball heading into the 2024-25 season. The Kennel Club checked in at No. 5 on the list, just ahead of UConn (The Pack), Auburn (The Jungle), San Diego State (The Show), Rutgers (Rutger Riot Squad) and Providence (Friar Fanactics) in the top 10.
Duke’s Cameron Crazies beat out Purdue’s Paint Crew for the No. 1 spot on Katz’s rankings, while Kansas’ student section came in at No. 3. Michigan State’s Izzozone, named after Spartans head coach Tom Izzo, came in ahead of the Kennel Club at No. 4.
While the Bulldogs have boasted one of the best true road-winning percentages in college basketball over the last 15 years, they haven’t had much success when playing at some of the venues on Katz’s list. Gonzaga is a combined 0-4 in true road games against the other teams in the top 10. Two of those defeats came during the 1998-99 season (at No. 8 Kansas, at No. 15 Purdue).
Needless to say, the rising popularity of neutral site games has made on-campus matchups between the top 25 programs less common in college basketball these days. The Bulldogs will have an opportunity to play in front of one of the student sections in Katz’s rankings on Nov. 18 in a nonconference battle against San Diego State at the Viejas Arena. Few and company have had to handle The Show once before back in 2017, when the Aztecs upsetted the No. 12 Zags, 72-70.
Madison Square Garden will likely prove to be a hostile environment when Gonzaga is in town to face back-to-back national champion UConn on Dec. 14, as Huskies fans won’t have to travel far from Storrs, Connecticut, to see their team play at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
As of now, Gonzaga’s home opener appears to be Nov. 10 against Arizona State. Fans will get their first look at the 2024-25 roster much earlier at the Kraziness in the Kennel event on Oct. 5.
