What Mark Few said after Gonzaga crushed Kentucky in bounce back win

Bulldogs head coach broke down his team's blowout victory from Nashville, Tennessee

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few cheers on his team against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half at Bridgestone Arena. | Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

It would've been easy to deduce that Gonzaga's week of practice following the program's worst loss in the Mark Few era wasn't fun for any of the coaches or players involved.

But responding to a 40-point drubbing with a 35-point victory over a top 25 team, nine days later, in a hostile environment that essentially acted as a road game?

Perhaps an unthinkable result, given it had literally never happened prior to the Bulldogs' 94-59 thumping of Kentucky at Bridgestone Arena on Friday.

The Zags became the first team in the history of the Associated Press Top 25 poll to go from a 30-point loss to a 30-point win in back-to-back games against ranked opponents by absolutely pummeling the flummoxed Wildcats in the paint, as Graham Ike and Braden Huff dominated from start to finish to get Gonzaga back on track following its ugly loss to Michigan in the Players Era Festival.

Ike, who had just one point in that 101-61 loss to the Wolverines — his lowest point total since he his freshman season — matched his Gonzaga career with 28 points while grabbing 10 rebounds, nearly replicating his 28-point, 11-rebound outing from last season's bout with Kentucky in Seattle.

This time around, though, Ike got help from his partner in crime, Braden Huff. The 6-foot-10 redshirt junior scored just two points in 9 minutes off the bench during that 90-89 overtime win for Kentucky last season, but chipped in 20 points on Friday to help the Bulldogs outscore the Wildcats, 46-18, in the paint.

Here's what Gonzaga's head coach had to say about his team's performance after the game.

On Gonzaga's defensive intensity in the first half

"[It was] exactly what we set out to do. And a lot of times that's lot more difficult than you would think."

The best thing we did, I think, we really slowed him down as best we could in transition. I thought we did a great job early in that half of doing that. And [the Wildcats are] great at pitching ahead, really attacking the rim. They got some guys that really put pressure on the rim, and I thought we had a great job there."

"We hit our coverages, and we rebounded very, very well. And those were our three keys. We got back to kind of focusing in on why we've been so good early in the season."

On how Ike and Huff complement one another

"They complement each other really, really well. All the way down to the last I think possession, they found each other on a little bump down for an easy one. That's who we play through."

[The Wildcats] were doubling them, and a lot of times, that creates offense for us also. We got away from that a little bit against Michigan, and it was good that we're able to get back to finding that."

On whether having an experienced team helps when needing a bounce back game

"These guys are mature and they've won a ton of games. They've got a ton of success. They know when we what we're supposed to do and what we're capable of, we can play with anybody in the country. But when we deviate from that, not pleasant stuff happens. And I think we had to experience that. And to their credit, they didn't bang their heads."

On Braeden Smith's impact (11 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists)

"He was terrific. I thought that was a huge, huge key. He came in and not only didn't miss a beat, I think we started playing faster, which he's done a lot for us this year. He really shared the ball and got the ball to the right spot, stepped up and hit shots when needed, which our guys got to do."

"I mean, [Ike and Huff] command a lot of attention, and when they do command that attention, you got to be ready, locked and loaded and make a play. He was really, really good tonight."