With its much-hyped matchup against No. 2 Connecticut in Seattle looming, Gonzaga could easily look past winless Texas Southern on Thursday night.
The eighth-ranked Bulldogs, though, don't expect to do that after dropping their first game of the season their last time out.
Gonzaga plays its first game at McCarthey Athletic Center in exactly a month as it hosts a Tigers squad that's lost 14 straight since last season.
The Bulldogs (7-1) are coming off a 69-64 loss to Arizona at US Airways Center in Phoenix on Sunday, getting outscored 7-2 in the final 1:17.
"High-level competition in a neutral-officiated arena in somebody's backyard," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few, whose team has already played Oklahoma State, Maryland, Tennessee and Indiana at neutral sites in 2008-09. "That's why I do it, and it's always turned out well for us."
Not against Arizona, as the Bulldogs shot a season-low 42.9 percent from the field. On Thursday, though, Gonzaga will face a Texas Southern team that ranks 318th in Division I in field goal defense at 47.4 percent. The Tigers' last two opponents have shot a combined 57.6 percent from the field.
On Saturday, Gonzaga meets the second-ranked Huskies, who are tied for 25th in the nation in field goal defense (37.1).
Jeremy Pargo, last season's West Coast Conference player of the year, had seven assists against Arizona, but committed three of his season-high seven turnovers in the final 70 seconds.
Pargo is fourth in the nation with 7.5 assists per game.
"We knew we were going to get a great game, and certainly we did," said Few, who is 10 victories away from moving into second place on the Bulldogs' all-time wins list with 253. "I thought we battled pretty hard, especially there in the second half to give ourselves a chance to win. There at the end, we just didn't quite make plays and Arizona did."
Junior Matt Bouldin had 14 points, including eight of Gonzaga's final 10, as the Bulldogs were denied their first 8-0 start since 1994-95.
Leading scorer Josh Heytvelt missed five of six shots and had just six points Sunday - his fewest since also scoring six in a 72-64 win over San Francisco on Jan. 21.
Heytvelt was averaging 19.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and shooting 63.0 percent in his previous four games.
Sophomore forward Austin Daye, the Bulldogs' second-leading scorer with 13.4 points per game, led Gonzaga with a career-high 22 against Arizona. He's averaging 18.0 points and shooting 56.5 percent from the field in his last two games.
While Gonzaga looks to improve its record at the McCarthey Athletic Center to 55-2, Texas Southern is just looking for one victory. The Tigers (0-9) haven't won since defeating Arkansas-Pine Bluff 77-76 in overtime on Feb. 25, and have lost their last five games against top 10 teams by an average of 33.2 points.
In Tuesday's 88-72 loss at No. 5 Texas, Texas Southern shot 57.7 percent from the field and never trailed by more than seven points in the opening 20 minutes, but gave up 53 second-half points.
The Tigers are allowing 78.3 points per game - 20th-worst in the nation - while Gonzaga is averaging 77.3.
This is the teams' first meeting.
