What Mark Few said after Gonzaga dominated Portland on senior night

Bulldogs' head coach broke down his team's win over Portland

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. | Photo by Myk Crawford

Gonzaga accomplished a couple of goals Tuesday in a resounding win over Portland.

Most importantly, the Bulldogs (28-2, 16-1 West Coast Conference) clinched at least a share of the league regular season title heading into their regular season finale at Saint Mary's.

Avenging their Jan. 4 loss to the Pilots was an added bonus of Tuesday's 89-48 blowout.

Graham Ike, who took that 87-80 upset to heart, led the Zags on both ends of the floor with 19 points, eight rebounds, seven steals and a block in 31 minutes, earning his first opportunity to cut down a net in his three seasons at Gonzaga.

The Zags tied their season-high in 3-pointers made (14) and forced 22 turnovers from the Pilots, who shot 34.7% from the field and made four 3s after hanging 87 points on 59.3% shooting from the field on the Bulldogs three weeks earlier in Portland.

Here's what Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said after the game.

On the biggest difference between Wednesday's win and the Feb. 4 game at Portland

"Way more energetic, way more forceful — especially on the defensive end — and opportunistic with our steals and deflections and creating turnovers. We just got some great effort across the board on the defensive side of things."

On Graham Ike's defense and steals record (seven)

"That's just when he chooses to get activated like that and be proactive. I mean, he can do that when he's hitting his coverages. We switched our ball screen coverage, and he did a great job in that. [He was] getting around and knocking some balls, blocking some shots. Seven steals, I guess, is a program record. So that's pretty amazing to do that at the five spot. That's usually reserved for guards."

On Gonzaga's 3-point shooting

"I would love to make 14 3s every night. I don't know if it's possible with this crew, but moving forward, it would be great if we make 14 3s. But in basketball, you just got to take what they give you. If they want to put a bunch of guys in the paint, you got to step up and make shots. If they don't, we got some guys that can really deliver in the paint, so you just got to kind of get a feel and take what they give you."

On Gonzaga's seniors class

"I mean, it's so different in this day and age, where you sometimes get them for a year and all that. These guys have really came together really, really well, and to win the league, undefeated at home; I'm really proud of them."

On winning the WCC regular season championship in Gonzaga's final season in the league

"I think there's still a lot of work left to do. So I mean, this is nice, and obviously it's nice to have the league championship. It's probably nicer to have the number one seed in the tournament. And I think that's really, really critical for us. But obviously, we've been prepping all year for the NCAA Tournament, so we're still playing for a seed. We got to go down [to Saint Mary's] and play well Saturday."

WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW: