Alabama coach compares Gonzaga's frontcourt to pair of Boston Celtics legends

The Zags will take on Alabama Monday night in Las Vegas at the Players Era Festival

Gonzaga Bulldogs Graham Ike (15) and Braden Huff (34). | Photo by Myk Crawford

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs are going to have their hands full on Monday night against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the first of three games the teams will play in the Players Era Festival.

While Gonzaga will have to deal with Alabama's elite scoring backcourt - featuring sophomore Labaron Philon (20.5 points and 5.8 assists) and junior Aden Holloway (17.7 points) - the flip side is Alabama having to deal with Gonzaga's dynamic frontcourt duo of Graham Ike and Braden Huff.

Ike is averaging 17.0 points and 9.2 rebounds per game, posting a double-double in each of the first three games of the season while shooting 61.4% on twos and 44.4% from deep.

Meanwhile, Huff has been impressive in his first full season as a starter, posting averages of 14.8 points and 5.0 rebounds in just 21.6 minutes per game, while shooting a ridiculous 67.3% on two-pointers.

Alabama coach Nate Oats spoke to reporters on a Zoom call ahead of the matchup with Gonzaga, and revealed he spoke with Houston coach Kelvin Sampson on a podcast about GU's frontcourt, and that Sampson compared Ike and Huff to a pair of basketball Hall of Famers.

"They've got two guys that are both super talented," Oats said. "I just did a podcast with coach Sampson. They played them in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He was like 'You've got McHale and you've got Parish.' That's a pretty good comparison going back 40 years in the NBA, arguably one of the best frontcourts in the history of basketball for the Celtics."

Nate Oats just finished a Zoom previewing tomorrow's game. #Alabama's coach was on a recent podcast with Kelvin Sampson, who faced #Gonzaga in the NCAA Tournament. Sampson compared Graham Ike/Braden Huff to the Boston Celtics' duo of Kevin McHale/Robert Parish. Full quote below: pic.twitter.com/pBpdM0cGkK

— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) November 23, 2025

Kevin McHale and Robert Parish were teammates with the Boston Celtics from 1981-1993, winning a trio of NBA championships together and both making the Basketball Hall of Fame. The duo made up one of the greatest starting frontcourts in NBA history, with 16 combined All-Star appearances between them. Both were recently included on the NBA's 75th anniversary team as well.

Gonzaga has utilized the duo of Ike and Huff very effectively through their first five games of the season, forcing opposing teams to deploy bigger lineups in order to neutralize Gonzaga's dominance down low.

Oats recognizes this, and discussed the challenge of trying to guard two elite, highly efficient scoring big men when they are on the floor at the same time.

Gonzaga Bulldogs Braden Huff (34) and Graham Ike (15). | Photo by Mercedes Smith

"They can both go score, they are both going to demand double teams," Oats continued. "When you have both of them it's like, who do you put your best post defender on? Your second best post defender in the game is going to have to go guard somebody that's better than almost every team's best post scorer. The fact they've got two of those guys and they can both go score it...man they're both really good."

How Alabama chooses to defend Gonzaga's two bigs will be a major factor in Monday night's matchup, which tips off at 6:30 PM PT and will be broadcast on TNT.