By Spencer Rodak, Stadium Sportzz
SPOKANE, Wash. – Traveling to face No. 13 Gonzaga, the Southern Utah men’s basketball team suffered its worst-ever loss in the Division I era, falling 122-50.
The Bulldogs scored the game’s first nine points before the T-birds scored their first bucket at the 16:01 mark of the opening half.
Gonzaga took its first double-digit lead just over five minutes into the contest (12-2), further extending its lead to 20 (32-12) with 9:16 left in the frame.
The Bulldogs pushed their lead to 30 with just under three minutes to play in the half (51-21) and would take a 59-32 advantage to the halftime break.
The second half only got worse for Southern Utah, as Gonzaga made it a 40-point game just over five minutes into the period (75-35).
Gonzaga would further extend its lead to 50 (90-40) with 9:30 remaining, then to over 60 with just over six minutes to play (101-40).
The Bulldogs made it a 70-point game with 3:05 left (115-45), building their lead to as many as 75 before ultimately winning by 72, 122-50.
With the loss, SUU falls to 1-4 on the season.
Setting the wrong kind of record
The 72-point loss to Gonzaga set a new record for futility in the history of SUU men’s basketball.
Having entered the Division I ranks as an independent program for the 1988-89 season, the T-birds dropped a game at Oklahoma by 68 points (132-64) on Dec. 20, 1988.
That was the worst loss in the team’s history until Monday night’s humiliating defeat.
Up next
Southern Utah (1-4) battles Washington State (1-3) in Pullman on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
The game is slated for tip-off at 9 p.m. MT and can be seen on ESPN+.