What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after WCC semifinal win vs. San Francisco

Of the numerous head-to-head winning streaks and postseason runs the Gonzaga men's basketball team has put together over the last two decades under head coach Mark Few, there aren't many that compare to the Bulldogs' consecutive appearances in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game.

The Zags, who haven't missed out on the conference tournament title game since Few took the reins in 1999, are set to appear in their 28th consecutive WCC championship game after taking down San Francisco, 85-76, in the semifinal round on Monday at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Led by Graham Ike's 27 points and 10 rebounds, Gonzaga never looked back from a strong start offensively to the second half. The 6-foot-9 forward scored on the first four possessions coming out of the halftime break, before Khalif Battle began to expand the Zags' lead with some hot shooting from outside the arc and in the midrange areas. Battle finished with 21 points and four rebounds in 35 minutes of action.

"It was a great basketball game, and it took everything we had to kind of hold them off," Few said. "I thought San Francisco was great tonight. They shot it really well from a bunch of different spots, and really got after us, especially early on the defensive end."

With the win, the Bulldogs take on No. 1 seed Saint Mary's in the WCC championship game (Tuesday 6 p.m., ESPN) for the fourth season in a row and the seventh time in the last nine postseasons.

Here's more of what Few had to say following the game.

On the historical context of Saint Mary's and Gonzaga's success in the WCC:

"Just from where their program came, when I first got in as an assistant, and then actually, when Randy [Bennett] took over; he's just done an amazing job. And they know who they are. They're really purposeful and very good at what they do, which is very different than how we play, and we're really good at what we do. So I think the interesting thing is we've had two head coaches that have stayed a really good long time, and their staffs have stayed relatively intact or they hired former players and things like that. I think that's the other thing that makes it really, really special. And I think both teams have always done it the right way, and so it's been great.

"The last couple games have went their way but again, they were hard fought and almost down to the last possession in most cases. We've got to be able to address how aggressive they are on the glass. We got to keep them off the glass and keep finding ways to score against that stingy defense and see if we can create some turnovers and get out and run."

On appearing in the WCC championship game for a 28th season in a row:

"I mean some of these streaks are crazy; this streak [of 33-straight wins against San Francisco], it's nuts, man. San Francisco is really, really good. I mean that's an NCAA Tournament caliber team. Great size, incredible guard [Ryan] Beasley; he's just been heroic these last two nights coming back from his ankle. [Malik] Thomas was spectacular, and Chris [Gerlufsen] does a great job. So I mean this year has been harder than ever. It's already been enhanced by adding Oregon State and Washington State, and then now San Francisco stayed great, Saint Mary's has stayed great. And so to make it 28 straight years is unbelievable. It's not as unbelievable as making the [NCAA] tournament 27 straight times, but you know it's right up there."

On San Francisco's fluctuating defensive strategies:

"They've tried everything, and at this point in the season, it's not anything you haven't seen. And so I thought our guys handled it very, very well. I thought we just missed some shots in the first half. And I thought we shot a little too quick; I thought we were amped up after not playing for a few days, whatever it was, we probably shot a little too quick. They do a nice job switching their defenses. But when you got a point guard like Ryan Nembhard, usually you can kind of just roll through all that and he'll get them in the right spots and make the right decisions."

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