Gonzaga's frontcourt takes on challenge of facing UConn

Following Saturday’s 90-89 overtime loss to Kentucky, Gonzaga men’s basketball head coach Mark Few told Graham Ike the same he always tells his 6-foot-9 senior after he’s just laid it all out on the line for his team.

“He’s a warrior,” Few said of Ike. “He did great, he played hard, did a lot of great things and then we just, the coaches, try to correct the things that he didn’t do so well.”

Perhaps to some degree, 28 points and 11 rebounds feels par for the course for a player like Ike, who’s an All-WCC forward and in contention for both the Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award honors this season. Granted those numbers from the Aurora, Colorado, native usually translate into wins for the Bulldogs, however, that was not the case against a resilient Wildcats squad. Also, the Zags went ice cold from 3-point range while Ike didn’t find the bottom of the net with the same consistency in the second half and overtime as he did in the first half, which Kentucky took advantage of to pull off the stunning victory.

As Few and company are set to take on another high-profile nonconference opponent — this time the reigning back-to-back national champion UConn Huskies, all the way on the other side of the country — they’ll need their leading scorer to stuff the stat sheet once again if they're to come away from Madison Square Garden with a victory.

“He’s gotta have a big-time game, and we gotta have a true road mentality,” former Gonzaga All-American Adam Morrison said of Ike and the Bulldogs’ approach to their next game on an episode of The Perimeter. “It's going to be loud in there and [UConn’s] hungry.”

Ike, leading the way at 15.3 points per game, has answered the call for the Zags already this season against Baylor (15 points, eight rebounds), at San Diego State (23 points, nine rebounds) and in their last two Battle 4 Atlantis games to finish the tournament in fifth place. He scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds to fuel an 89-73 win over Indiana, followed by an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double in the 90-65 victory against Davidson.

What Ike and his teammates are up against Saturday is something different from what they’ve seen so far this season, though. The Huskies (7-2) have excelled at protecting the rim, as they rank No. 1 in the country in blocks per game (7.1) and block rate (19.9%). Three players average more than 1.4 blocks for UConn, led by 6-foot-10 center Samson Johnson at 1.9 per game.

Surprisingly, Dan Hurley’s crew is doing all this without their star 7-foot-2 center Donovan Clingan, who’s currently suiting up for the Portland Trail Blazers after being selecting No. 7 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft this past summer.

By most accounts, Gonzaga had one of its worst offensive performances of the 2023-24 season when it faced UConn in Seattle last December. Much of the Bulldogs’ struggles from the field stemmed from Clingan, as he clogged up the lane to finish the night with 21 points and eight rebounds in the Huskies’ 76-63 win at Climate Pledge Arena. In a game they trailed throughout, the Bulldogs went just 23-for-59 (39.0%) from the floor and 2-for-12 (16.7%) from 3-point range.

“Our inside guys are gonna have to play better than they did last year,” Morrison said.

Braden Huff was quiet in his 12 minutes off the bench against UConn last season. The redshirt sophomore has been anything but that so far in year two, as he’s putting up 12.2 points on 56.8% from the field in just 17.8 minutes per game. He played only 10 minutes against the Wildcats but that might be due in part because of how well Ike was playing on both ends of the floor.

On some nights, the roles are reversed. Against West Virginia, it was Huff who had 19 points off the bench while Ike played 14 minutes in the loss. The next day in the Bahamas, Ike stepped up while Huff took a backseat. They make for quite the combo when considering how they complement each other’s skills in certain aspects, like Ike being the forceful post player while Huff possesses more touch and ability to shoot the 3-ball.

The Zags are going to need a little bit of everything from both their bigs if they’re to tame the Huskies on Saturday.

“I think if we can continue to get good guard play and obviously our inside presence, we have a great shot to beat this team," Morrison said.

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

Mark Few expects ‘another great environment’ when Gonzaga faces UConn at Madison Square Garden

Former Saint Mary's star buried on UConn bench

Gonzaga and UConn by the numbers

Gonzaga's Nolan Hickman finds balance within himself in leadership role with Zags: 'Guys follow him'

Column: Is it time for college basketball to move on from the AP poll?

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Continue to follow our Gonzaga coverage on social media by liking us on Facebook and following us on Instagram and Twitter.