Graham Ike is on the proverbial heater for No. 18 Gonzaga.
His 27-point performance in Saturday’s 96-68 West Coast Conference romp at Loyola Marymount marked the fourth time in six games that he’s scored at least 20. It was his second-best output of the season.
Ike and the Bulldogs (12-4, 3-0) will try to keep things going in a positive direction Wednesday night when they host WCC foe San Diego in Spokane, Wash.
Ike’s 16.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game top Gonzaga in both categories. Coach Mark Few said the 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior not only delivered offense against Loyola Marymount but got the job done on defense, too.
“He was forceful … he was just being Graham,” Few said. “He was just really solid. That’s such an advantage for us to get that out of that 5-spot and defensively, he was terrific, too. He was active and rebounding and contesting shots. I was really happy for him.”
It was the third straight win for the Bulldogs, all in conference play. It was their most complete effort in WCC action, according to Few, who saw his team marry its usual efficient offense with a good defensive performance and earn a plus-7 advantage on the boards.
Arkansas transfer Khalif Battle, who’s averaging 13.2 points, pumped in a season-high 26 on just 12 shot attempts against the Lions. His explosiveness has helped Gonzaga construct another top-10 offense in scoring as it ranks eighth in the nation at 87.4 points per game.
“I think he’s in a good place,” Few said of Battle. “We’ve got to keep him there.”
Point guard Ryan Nembhard has been a big part of Gonzaga’s attack, scoring 11.6 points per game and leading Division I in assists with 9.6 per game.
While Gonzaga has found traction in the WCC, San Diego (4-12, 1-2) continues its search for more offensive punch and overall consistency. Neither was evident in Saturday’s 81-54 loss at Oregon State as the Toreros made only 29.3 percent of their shots and were outscored 48-26 in the second half.
“It was a disappointing performance on both ends of the court,” San Diego coach Steve Lavin said. “We didn’t bring the necessary toughness or togetherness. We’ve had an encouraging stretch of games and practices with incremental improvements … we played poorly.”
Kjay Bradley Jr. has been the Toreros’ only consistent offensive threat this year at 15.4 points per game, but he was limited to nine points in 24 minutes off the bench Saturday. Freshman Tony Duckett led the team with 12 points against the Beavers.
Lavin said his team must embrace the grind of preparing for a nationally ranked team.
“We have to focus on getting better,” he said. “We look at the data and analytics to evaluate what trends are going well and address the areas that are deficient. Change occurs in addressing the deficiencies and improving.”
The Bulldogs have won 18 straight meetings between the programs and own an 81-22 lead in the all-time series.
–Field Level Media
