Davis Fogle Scores Career-High 22 as No. 15 Gonzaga Finally Beats Purdue 78-72 in Las Vegas

Six tries. That is how long it took Gonzaga to finally solve Purdue. The Boilermakers had won all five previous meetings, including three straight from 2022 through 2024, and they had a habit of turning these matchups into long nights for the Zags. On Monday at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, in the opening act of the Hall of Fame Series, No. 15 Gonzaga flipped the script with a 78-72 win that was more stressful than it needed to be and more revealing than a typical season opener.

Davis Fogle scored a career-high 22 points, Florida transfer Xaivian Lee added 18 in his Gonzaga debut, and the Bulldogs lived at the free throw line on a night when the shots from the floor did not always cooperate. Gonzaga led for nearly 35 of the 40 minutes, built an 11-point cushion late, watched most of it disappear, and still found a way to close. It was the program's 23rd straight win in a season opener.

A Fistfight From the Opening Tip

Neither team looked like it was easing into November. Purdue, rebuilt after losing a core that included 2025 Big Ten Player of the Year Braden Smith, leaned on 7-foot-4 junior Daniel Jacobsen early and often, and the big man answered. Every time Gonzaga threatened to pull away in the first half, Jacobsen found a way to answer inside. The Zags went to the locker room up just 36-33.

Gonzaga kept attacking the rim, Purdue kept feeding its big man, and the officials stayed busy. By the end of the night, the teams combined for 41 fouls and 55 free throw attempts. Four Purdue players and three Gonzaga players finished with four fouls apiece. Nobody fouled out, which felt like a minor miracle given the whistle.

Early in the second half, Jacobsen trimmed Gonzaga's lead to 41-40, and for a moment it looked like the Boilermakers would seize control. Instead, that was the cue for Gonzaga's best stretch of the night.

The 15-6 Run That Decided It

Purdue coach Matt Painter had a problem he could not fully solve: Jacobsen was the only thing working consistently for his team, and Jacobsen kept picking up fouls. When the big man had to sit, the Boilermakers struggled to generate anything clean against a Gonzaga team that was suddenly sharing the scoring load.

Gonzaga ripped off a 15-6 run out of that 41-40 score and led 56-46 with 12:51 left. The scoring came from everywhere, and Izan Almansa, the former Real Madrid prospect who was ruled eligible only days before Gonzaga's exhibition against Arkansas, gave the Zags real minutes off the bench. Almansa finished with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting in 29 minutes and was one of the clearest winners of the night for Mark Few's rotation.

The lead reached 67-56 with 5:50 to play, and the game looked done.

It was not done. Purdue ripped off a 10-1 run, and Painter picked his spots to put Jacobsen back on the floor with four fouls. Suddenly it was 68-66 with 3:07 left.

That was the turning point, and it belonged to Fogle. With Gonzaga's lead down to a single possession, Fogle answered with a layup that stopped the bleeding. Purdue missed four of its final five shots from there, and Gonzaga closed it out.

Fogle and Lee Carry the Load

Fogle's line was a little ugly in places and beautiful in others. The 6-of-18 shooting from the field and 1-of-5 from three will not end up on any highlight reel. But Fogle went 9-of-10 at the line, grabbed five rebounds, came up with two steals, and made the play of the game when Gonzaga needed one.

Lee was the more efficient half of the pairing. The fifth-year transfer from Florida made his Gonzaga debut look easy at times, scoring 18 points on just seven field goal attempts. He hit 4-of-7 shots overall, went 3-of-4 from deep and 7-of-9 at the line, with four rebounds and three assists in 29 minutes. Gonzaga will happily take that version every night.

Braden Huff, the reigning centerpiece who averaged 17.8 points a season ago, had a quieter evening than usual with 10 points on 4-of-11 shooting. Still, Huff played 36 minutes and led the team with seven rebounds, and the fact that Gonzaga beat a Big Ten team without a big scoring night from Huff is probably the most encouraging takeaway of all. Fogle, Lee, Almansa and Huff combined for 61 of the team's 78 points.

Arizona State transfer Massamba Diop added seven points in 16 minutes while carrying four fouls. Nathan De Sousa dished four assists off the bench, and Javon Bennett chipped in five points, giving Gonzaga 19 bench points to Purdue's 16.

The Free Throw Line Was the Whole Story

Strip away the free throws and Purdue probably wins this game. The Boilermakers made more field goals (26 to 23) and shot better from the floor (47.3 percent to 43.4 percent). Both teams committed exactly 10 turnovers, both pulled down 24 defensive rebounds, and both scored 28 points in the paint.

The difference came at the line. Gonzaga went 26-of-34, Purdue went 15-of-21, and that 11-point gap at the stripe was nearly double the final margin. The Zags also won the three-point battle quietly, shooting 6-of-16 (37.5 percent) while Purdue went just 5-of-21 (23.8 percent). Gonzaga held a small edge on the glass, 34-31, with 10 offensive rebounds to Purdue's seven.

For Purdue, Jacobsen was outstanding. He scored 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting, went 4-of-5 at the line and grabbed seven rebounds in 27 minutes, every one of them played under the shadow of foul trouble. C.J. Cox, the most significant returner from last season, added 11 points but needed 11 shots to get there and went 1-of-5 from three. Antione West Jr. gave the Boilermakers 10 points off the bench, mostly by getting to the line.

The rest of the perimeter group struggled. Omer Mayer handed out five assists but shot 2-of-11 for eight points. Gicarri Harris had eight points with two threes. Former Princeton star Caden Pierce, the 2024 Ivy League Player of the Year, was perfect from the field at 3-of-3 for seven points with six rebounds and three assists, though Pierce also finished with four fouls.

What It Means for Both Teams

There was some history in Purdue's starting five, too. For the first time since Feb. 11, 1982, against Ohio State, the Boilermakers started a lineup without a single Indiana native. Legendary former coach Gene Keady, the winningest coach in program history, watched from the stands. It is a symbolic marker for a program that won the Big Ten tournament last March, reached the Elite Eight, and now faces a real transition year. Purdue was picked sixth in the Big Ten preseason media poll, and Painter has said publicly that he thought as many as nine players deserved to start. The pieces are competitive, but outside of Jacobsen, nobody consistently created offense against a ranked opponent.

For Gonzaga, this was the first regular-season game of its new life in the Pac-12, and it carried some weight. The Zags lost a preseason exhibition to Arkansas and were bounced by 11-seed Texas in the Round of 32 last spring, so a win over a Big Ten program on a neutral floor matters both for the resume and for the mood. The newcomers look legitimate already, and Almansa might be the swing piece of the whole roster if the minutes stay at this level.

The concern is obvious: an 11-point lead with under six minutes to play should not become a two-point game. Gonzaga's late-game offense got sticky, and against better competition, that sort of lapse costs you.

Box scores from Gonzaga Athletics (opens in a new tab) and ESPN (opens in a new tab) have the full numbers, and Gonzaga's official recap (opens in a new tab) has more from Las Vegas.

The Take

This was not a masterpiece, but it was the kind of game Gonzaga will need to win in March: physical, ugly in stretches, decided by free throws and the last good play. The Zags did both, and the hex is finally broken.

Gonzaga is 1-0 and next up is its home opener against New Mexico State on Saturday, Nov. 7. Purdue falls to 0-1 and next up is Valparaiso at home on Friday, Nov. 6.

Sources: Gonzaga Athletics, ESPN, Field Level Media via Deadspin and TSN. More men's college basketball coverage on Undrafted.

Jacobsen gave Purdue everything it could ask for, and it was still not enough. For Painter, the job now is finding a second option who can take some of that weight. For Few, the job is simpler: keep the new guys rolling and figure out how to finish.

Photo: Gonzaga Athletics.