Gonzaga coach Mark Few's 'spectacular' take on Graham Ike's huge game vs. Houston
03/23/2025 10:27 AM
The Gonzaga Bulldogs’ streak of consecutive Sweet Sixteen appearances ended at nine on Saturday night after a loss to the top seed in the Midwest Region, the Houston Cougars, whose streak of six Sweet Sixteen appearances is now the longest in the country. The Zags, who never led in the 81-76 defeat, continued to push the Coogs all 2nd half, digging themselves out of a 14 point hole with just 11 minutes ago to cut the lead to just a single point with under 30 seconds remaining.
Leading the way for Gonzaga was senior forward Graham Ike, an All-WCC performer, who scored 23 of his 27 points in the 2nd half, willing the Zags back into a game which the Cougars looked poised to bust open. After the game, longtime Zags head coach Mark Few spoke about Ike’s performance, and was very direct regarding just how impressive it was.
"He was spectacular," Few said of Ike after the loss, per Theo Lawson of The Spokesman-Review. "When you get 27 (points) on Houston with the bigs that they have, I mean, are you kidding me? Nobody has done that to them. Nobody. You're facing double-teams every time. I'm telling you, there's double teams, and then there's Houston double teams, and it's a whole other neighborhood. For him to do that is unbelievable. Unbelievable."
For the second straight year, Ike finished 3rd in the WCC in points per game, but he didn’t face a single defense in conference play that compares to that of the Houston Cougars, who are 1st in the nation in points allowed per game and 2nd in defensive rating. But even the best defense in the nation didn’t have a good answer for the talented lefty or the WCC Tournament champions.
The 76 points the Zags scored on Saturday night were the most Houston allowed in a game that didn’t go to overtime this season, and Ike’s 27 points were the most that the Coogs surrendered to just one player all year. It was Ike’s eighth straight game scoring in double figures, matching his longest such streak of the season.
Houston now awaits the winner of Sunday’s game between former Pac-12 rivals Arizona and Oregon. Meanwhile, Mark Few and the Bulldogs will regroup and prepare to enter their final season in the WCC before joining the new look Pac-12 in 2026.
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