Graham Ike added to watch list for pair of prestigious preseason awards

The Gonzaga big man averaged over 17 points in 23 minutes per game last year

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

The preseason honors keep rolling in for Graham Ike.

On Thursday morning, the Gonzaga Bulldogs' star forward was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches preseason watch list for the NABC Player of the Year. This award is selected by a nationwide vote of Division 1 head coaches and will be announced the week of the 2026 Final Four.

Ike was one of 20 players named to the watch list and the only one representing a team not among the Power 5 conferences: the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12, and Big East.

Gonzaga will face three of the other candidates on this list in the non-conference slate: UCLA point guard Donovan Dent, Kentucky guard Otega Oweh, and Alabama point guard Labaron Philon.

Ike's day of recognition didn't stop there, however, as the 6'9 senior was also named to the Karl Malone Award Watch List by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. This award is given annually to the best power forward in college basketball, and is joined by other positional awards, including the Bob Cousy Award (point guard), Jerry West Award (shooting guard), Julius Erving Award (small forward) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award (center).

Ike was once again the only non-P5 player on the 20-person list, which includes former Saint Mary's forward Joshua Jefferson, now at Iowa State; former Oregon State forward Michael Rataj, now at Baylor; and another former Oregon State forward, Tyler Bilodeau, who is entering his second season playing for Mick Cronin at UCLA.

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). | Photo by Erik Smith

Ike is coming off an excellent 2024-25 season in Spokane, where he averaged 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds while leading the conference with a 61.5% effective field goal rate. He earned All-WCC First Team honors for a second year in a row, and enters his final season of eligibility as the heavy favorite to win the conference's Player of the Year Award.

The 6'9 Colorado native has averaged 16.9 points in two seasons at Gonzaga, which is made even more impressive by his 23.5 minutes per game average. Ike scores at an extremely high rate when he's on the floor, which should be even more often in 2025-26 now that he will be sharing the floor with Braden Huff, who served as his highly successful backup the past two years.

Ike and Huff will create matchup nightmares for opposing teams, although the duo will need to avoid foul trouble in order to stay on the court and keep those offensive numbers elite.

Gonzaga opens up the season officially on Monday, Nov. 3, at 6:00 PM in Spokane against Texas Southern.