What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after win over Santa Clara

Bulldogs pulled away from the Broncos for 10th consecutive win

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

Graham Ike scored a season-high 34 as Gonzaga ran away from Santa Clara in the second half of an 89-77 victory from the McCarthey Athletic Center Thursday night.

Ike, who was recently named a John R. Wooden Award finalist, showed why he was deserving of the prestigious honor throughout Thursday's West Coast Conference bout. The 6-foot-9 forward shot 13-of-17 from the field and snatched 11 rebounds, fueling the Bulldogs (17-1, 5-0 WCC) to their 10th consecutive win on the season.

Ike delivered time and time again to help his squad fend off a Broncos (13-5, 4-1 WCC) team that gave the Zags trouble throughout the first half, creating another intense battle early on between a couple of undefeated WCC teams.

Offensive miscues and whistles dictated the first 20 minutes of play; a total of 21 personal fouls and 19 turnovers told the story of the first half. Santa Clara managed to slug its way through the mess better than Gonzaga did, going ahead by as many as eight points while holding the Zags scoreless for over 4 minutes.

The Broncos, who scored 12 points off 10 turnovers by the Bulldogs in the first half, led 37-29 with 2:52 left before the break following a score from Allen Graves, capping off an 11-0 scoring run for Santa Clara. That wound up being the visitors' last bucket of the half, though, as Grant-Foster and Ike combined for eight unanswered points over the final 2 minutes and change, tying the game up at 37 heading into the locker room.

Ike got to work right away for the Zags, scoring nine of their first 11 points of regulation. The 6-foot-9 forward came into the game averaging 23.7 points on 72.5% shooting from the field over his last three meetings with the Broncos, and wasted no time continuing that trend on Thursday.

The start of the second half was more of the same from Ike, who managed to fuel the Zags offensively and provide energy on the other end of the floor with his effort on the glass. With the Broncos hot on the Bulldogs' tail, the 6-foot-9 forward made sure Gonzaga stayed in front as he scored 10 consecutive points, including a stepback 3 to beat the shot clock buzzer.

Ike's shotmaking and presence on the boards, along with a few hustle plays from his teammates, galvanized the Zags on a 17-0 scoring run midway through the second half, making it a double-digit game after 30 minutes of exchanging blows with the Broncos. A more concerted effort on the defensive end — including on the glass — from Gonzaga stifled Santa Clara down the stretch, as the Broncos missed 12 of 16 during an 11-minute stretch in the second half and committed 15 turnovers overall.

The Zags have won 10 games in a row since their blowout loss to Michigan in Las Vegas, marking the program's longest such streak since coming out on top 12 straight times en route to the Elite Eight in 2023. It's also the Bulldogs' fourth 10-game winning streak since going 31-1 in the 2020-21 campaign.

The win over the Broncos improved Gonzaga to 49-6 against Santa Clara under Mark Few and bumped the Zags' head-to-head record over the past 56 meetings to 52-4. Two of their four losses to Herb Sendek's crew came in each of the previous two seasons: a 77-76 letdown at the Leavey Center in January 2024 and a 103-99 thriller at the Kennel last year.

Here's what Few had to say after the game.

On cutting down on fouls and turnovers

"I think we had 10 [turnovers] at half, and we did a nice job with that. We were a little too amped up and fouled way too much of the first half; they got a lot of points at the free throw line. And then I thought we made our coverage a lot better on the defensive side. And then the last thing was, they really are a great offensive rebound team. I think we had a much better job on the defensive boards."

On Graham Ike's performance

"He was on, and again, that's not an easy crew to go against. I mean, they got some nice athletic shot blockers that are long in there. And then Graves is a good looking, physical specimen in there also. And again, they're handsy off the ball and on the ball, and so he did a nice job taking care of the ball too, because there were some rakes in there that I thought he did a good job powering through."

On Emmanuel Innocenti playing through early foul trouble

"He got three fouls early, and so that kind of put us on our heels with our rotations. But I thought he did a good job of playing clean in the second half. Obviously he's got a nice shot, it's just — for whatever reason — it was a little bit off there for a couple games. But I think we all have a lot of faith in it when he lets it fly. He did a nice job also of driving assertively and getting to the rim and finishing."

On having a week off before playing Washington State

"These byes are great, especially with that tough stretch we went through. I mean, this stretch kind of ended with this as far as game, day off, game, day off ... and then we finally got one more day off. So, yeah, it'll be nice. We've had this virus kind of circling through the team; it's knocked a bunch of guys down, so hopefully we can get some space from that."

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