What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after resounding win over Washington State

Bulldogs blitz Cougars in 30-point win at the Kennel

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. | Photo by Erik Smith

A dominant showing defensively and another efficient night from Graham Ike fueled Gonzaga to an 83-53 victory over Washington State Tuesday night.

The Bulldogs (24-2, 12-1 West Coast Conference) clamped down the Cougars (11-16, 6-8 WCC) for a full 40 minutes, holding the visitors to a season low in points while scoring 31 points off 21 turnovers in front of an energetic McCarthey Athletic Center crowd.

Ike led the way on the offensive end, where the Zags scored 50 points in the paint and shot 31-of-49 from inside the arc. Ike scored 20 points and shot 8-of-10 from the floor, grabbed seven rebounds and dished three assists in 23 minutes.

Here's what Gonzaga head coach Mark Few had to say after the game.

On his team's defensive effort

"Tonight was about our defense. It was active, it was forceful. It was stifling at times. It was great just to see our guys flying around and they hit all their coverages."

"WSU runs some pretty complex actions that you have to guard that you don't often see, and our guys did a great job of hitting their coverages, but then also staying aggressive enough to make plays."

On defending Ace Glass, WSU's perimeter players

"I think we did a great job on him. He's a tough guard because he's been shooting a lot of 3s leading up to this thing, but he's got a great midrange game, and they were trying to do some Gortats where they were kind of screening us with their big and he was getting to the basket there."

"But we chased him off the [3-point] line pretty good. I thought we chased everybody off the line. Their best games have been when they've been banging in a lot of 3s."

On Emmanuel Innocenti's impact

It can't go unnoticed just how incredible Emmanuel is at pressuring the ball. Every night we just ask him to get up, usually on their best player or their best initiator offense, and he's just relentless with his ball pressure, which just makes all our coverages so much easier."

"He gets over screens so much better than we have these these last couple years. And again, that allows us to do coverages that, maybe we haven't been able to do in the past. Tonight we were able to switch him; WSU loves to post switches. Emmanuel is fine in there. As a coach, it just gives you so much versatility."

On facing Santa Clara on Saturday

"I thought they were a really, really, really good team. I mean, they're an NCAA Tournament team. They pass the eye test and the way they're playing, their metrics are right there, but they definitely pass the eye test."

"I think just us handling like we did up here, we guarded them really, really good. We rebounded the ball well, and then we were able to function and score against their pressure defense. They're going to get up pressure us probably 94 feet. They press up anytime you get a defensive rebound and try to slow down your transition. We got to get off that and get out, which we did great tonight in transition, which is where we're at our best on on offense, and then we'll have to guard."

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