Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs are officially 1-0 to begin the 2026-27 college basketball season, surviving a late run from the Purdue Boilermakers and coming out with a 78-72 victory.
The Zags were led by a career-high 22 points from sophomore star Davis Fogle, but the best player for GU in this game was undeniably point guard Xaivian Lee.
Lee, who committed to Gonzaga in August after 5-in-5 players started getting eligible, was a steady presence for the Zags all night long, dropping 18 points on 4-7 shooting, including 3-4 from three and 7-9 from the free throw line.
Gonzaga guard Xaivian Lee (5) at Kraziness in the Kennel | Myk Crawford | Gonzaga On SI
Lee's three assists may look modest, but he did a great job of pushing the tempo when appropriate, scaling back and getting the Zags into the half court offense, and squaring up his man and looking for his own shot - which was especially crucial in the second half for Gonzaga.
"He's really been shooting the heck out of the ball all fall and he does a great job bringing in pace, shaking [his] guy down and creating some space so he can get his three off," Few said after the game. "He's got a great little step back three and when he lets it fly I think the whole team really trusts that shot."
Trust in Lee's outside shot is probably not a storyline folks were expecting to start this season, as the 6'4 guard was coming off a year at Florida where he shot an ugly 29.2% from beyond the arc. However, Lee shot a far more palatable 36.6% from three as a junior at Princeton, and he sure looked like the right guy to take those shots in the second half - when he scored eight points in a five minute stretch to help push GU's lead into double-figures.
Another huge element of Lee's game - and why he is a great fit in Spokane - is his ability to push the tempo and get Gonzaga out in transition. He looked to get the ball up the floor as often as he could - sometimes pushing off a made basket, which helped alleviate Purdue's full court pressure.
"I thought he also broke down their pressure a lot," Few continued. "They loved their full court press and we were able to kind of keep our secondary break going even though they were kind of jamming us in the back court."
Between Lee, Javon Bennett, and Nathan de Sousa, Gonzaga has a trio of point guards who want to get out and run, which should make this an exciting team to watch - as long as Lee and Bennett remain eligible.
Gonzaga's next game is Saturday, Nov. 7 at 2:00 PM against New Mexico State, and will be broadcast on KHQ.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/gonzaga as Mark Few shares what impressed him most about Xaivian Lee in Gonzaga's win over Purdue .
