Gonzaga’s Graham Ike named top-10 candidate for nation’s top power forward award

Gonzaga forward Graham Ike was named one of ten candidates for the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award, as announced by the Basketball Hall of Fame on Thursday.

The award is in its tenth year, and is part of five separate positional awards given out annually, including the Bob Cousy Award (point guard), Jerry West Award (shooting guard), Julius Erving Award (small forward) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (center). Ike is looking to become Gonzaga's second Malone Award winner after Drew Timme took home the honors in 2021.

Three other Zags have won these awards: Przemek Karnowski, who won the Abdul-Jabbar Award in 2017, Rui Hachimura, who won the Erving Award in 2019, and Corey Kispert, who also won the Erving Award two years later in 2021.

The list of candidates will be narrowed from 10 to five in early March, and the five finalists will be presented to the HOF selection committee, where winners will be chosen.

Joining Ike on the Karl Malone Award Top 10 list is Koa Peat (Arizona), Cameron Boozer (Duke), Joshua Jefferson (Iowa State), Malik Reneau (Miami), Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan), Caleb Wilson (North Carolina), Trey Kaufman-Renn (Purdue), JT Toppin (Texas Tech), and Alex Karaban (UConn).

After a three-game absence due to ankle soreness, Ike returned for Gonzaga and dominated against Saint Mary's on Saturday, dropping 30 points on 11-20 shooting to lead the Zags to a big victory. While Gonzaga followed that up with a disastrous loss against Portland on Wednesday, Ike played well with 24 points and 10 rebounds, his 12th double-double of the season.

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). | Photo by Myk Crawford

All told, the 6'9 senior is averaging a conference-leading 19 points per game, along with 8.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists while shooting 59% on twos and 35.1% from three.

The Aurora, CO native has long been one of the most productive players in the country, dating back to his days at Wyoming, and he is currently the active leader in career points and is second in career rebounds. He's the only active player with over 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, and one of just four WCC players to ever accomplish said feat.

Ike has taken on a bigger role offensively following the absence of his frontcourt running mate, Braden Huff, who is currently recovering from a left knee injury and remains out of commission.

Gonzaga relies heavily on Ike offensively, and even with the sore ankle, he played 37 minutes against SMC and another 35 against Portland. If he continues to put up big numbers while carrying this team to the finish line, he'll strengthen his case not only for this award, but as an All-American and Wooden Award finalist.

Next up for Ike and Gonzaga is a road game in Corvallis against Oregon State, with tip set for 3:00 PM PT on Saturday, Feb. 7. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

Add us as a preferred source on Google