What Mark Few said after Gonzaga throttled Loyola Marymount

About 48 hours removed from a gritty win over Seattle U, Gonzaga overcame another slow start Sunday before pulling away for an 82-47 win over LMU at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

Graham Ike's 16 points paced the Bulldogs (16-1, 4-0 West Coast Conference) to their ninth-straight win on the season, and their 12th overall by double-digit margins.

Mario Saint-Supéry added 13 points and five assists, Jalen Warley chipped in 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Adam Miller knocked down three 3s to finish with 11 points, as the Zags' bench scored 53 points and accounted for 23 of the team's 36 made field goals.

Rodney Brown Jr. tallied 11 points for the Lions (10-7, 1-3 WCC), who dropped their third game in their last four outings following a 9-4 finish to nonconference play. LMU was 19-of-63 from the field (30.2%) and committed 13 turnovers.

A rough start offensively dug Gonzaga into an early hole, though it wasn't long before the Bulldogs righted the ship behind some inspirational play from their second unit.

After finding itself in a double-digit hole early on, Gonzaga turned to its bench for a spark. Grant-Foster brought some life to the Kennel with a few electric dunks, including a strong two-hand flush to give the Zags the lead after trailing, 14-4, moments earlier, while Warley provided a strong presence on the boards and helped generate some flow offensively through his playmaking.

Saint-Supéry, who shot 4-of-21 from the field in his last three games, broke out of his funk to give the Zags a boost in the scoring column. The freshman guard tallied eight points in the first half, as the Zags outscored the Lions, 29-5, over the final 13 minutes of the first half.

During that span, LMU went without a score between the 13:43 and 4:51 marks, then endured another drought for the final 4:24 of the half. When including an 8-minute dry spell in the second half, the Lions went 20 minutes without scoring among those three droughts — resulting in LMU's lowest output on the scoreboard since November 2021.

The Zags came out of the locker room with their foot still on the gas pedal. Gonzaga opened the second half with three straight makes from behind the arc, including a pair from Adam Miller, making it a 23-point game with an 11-2 scoring run.

Sunday's win continued Gonzaga's best start to a season since the 2020-21 campaign, when the Zags won their first 31 games heading into the national championship game. It also marked their first nine-game win streak since the 2023-24 season, the program's 35th win its last 37 meetings with LMU and its 52nd victory over the Lions under Mark Few.

Sunday was the Zags' fourth game in a seven-day span, which started in Malibu, California, with a 96-56 victory over Pepperdine in their WCC opener on Dec. 28. The ensuing days included a closer-than-expected win at San Diego (99-93) and a 13-point rally against Seattle U at the Kennel roughly 48 hours after the Toreros game.

Gonzaga will have some time to rest before returning to action for a league bout with Santa Clara (13-4, 4-0 WCC) at the Kennel on Thursday (8:30 p.m.).

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

On his team's effort defensively

"I thought it was great. [We got] off to a slow start there, and that second group came in and really flipped the script."

"And that's who we are when we're doing that. That's a really, really good sign. Great defense leads to getting us out on the break, and then we can be great on offense when we play like that."

On Mario Saint-Supéry's performance

"I thought he was really good. I thought he picked the right spots — when to attack and when to distribute. They were really wanting our guards to score in the pick and roll, staying under our bigs, so the guards had to have a plan and execute."

"He'll step up and make shots. And I think he did a real nice job with that."

On Adam Miller's recent defensive efforts

"I think sometimes he cares so much. He's very diligent, and really analyzes the scout. Sometimes it's paralysis by analysis. Lately he's just been kind of cut it loose; especially these last two games, he's made a huge difference. And obviously I think making plays on defense, and then that kind of got his offense going too. It's good to see some of his 3s going down now too. That's a huge weapon for us."

On having four games in seven days

"I mean, listen, we got through it. Obviously, to end it like that is encouraging, but it was rough. That's four games in seven days. I would not recommend doing that next year on any of the athletes at any of the schools. I think that needs to be looked at."

"But everybody else was doing it, so you just got to deal with it. But it was rough. So, we're going to take a really, really deserving day off."

On facing Santa Clara next

"They do a great job evaluating guys. They do a great job developing guys, put them in the right system, and they've really raised the profile of that program recently. They put it on us last year in here, so I'm sure the guys will be fired up."