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EspañolMar. 1—MORAGA, Calif. — Gonzaga didn't collect a win but possibly a week's worth of bulletin board material from Saturday's 70-59 loss at Saint Mary's, giving the Gaels a share of the West Coast Conference regular -season title for the fourth consecutive year.
The last Gonzaga player to leave the facility, Graham Ike was standing just off the far corner of the court, chatting with family members more than 45 minutes after the buzzer sounded at UCU Pavilion.
Donning the same WCC champion T-shirts and hats Gonzaga players received Wednesday after clinching their piece of the league title, Saint Mary's players were still on the court celebrating an 11-point victory over the Zags in the final meeting between the programs as conference rivals.
Ike might have noticed Gaels guard Mikey Lewis, who was wearing two WCC champion hats — a white one from last year's title and a black one from this season — after torching the Zags for a career-high 31 points and seven 3-pointers.
Gonzaga players may have come across Lewis' postgame comments, which could also provide some fuel should the teams meet again next week in the WCC Tournament.
"It feels amazing," Lewis said of Saturday's title-clinching victory. "It also feels good to know four (years) now that we've ran this. It feels good."
This edition of the Gonzaga-Saint Mary's rewind touches on the Gaels' defensive strategy against Ike, the status of injured wing Jalen Warley and the mutual respect between opposing coaches who've transformed the WCC's top rivalry into one of the most compelling matchups in college basketball.
Containment plan
Andrew McKeever, one of two 7-footers Saint Mary's deploys to guard Ike, took a break from on-court celebrations Saturday night to discuss the Gaels' defensive approach against Gonzaga.
More specifically, what went into the game plan against the senior forward who might still be the leading candidate for WCC Player of the Year?
"He is the game plan," McKeever said of Ike. "For the fives and fours, and the whole team really."
As it probably should've been after Ike burned Saint Mary's for 30 points on 11 of 20 shooting and 3 of 5 from the 3-point line in Gonzaga's 73-65 victory on Jan. 31.
Ike has scored in single digits just once this season — against Michigan, in a game where he played just 17 minutes while dealing with ankle pain — so it was unrealistic to expect the Gaels could shut off the forward's production entirely.
But they managed to limit him in the second half, something most opponents can't say they've been able to do this season. After a 13-point first half, Ike scored just four more points after the break. His night ended with 3 minutes, 44 seconds to play after committing a fifth foul on Gaels point guard Joshua Dent.
"I think we had good rules going in, we knew the shots we wanted him to take and where we wanted to send him," said senior center Harry Wessels, the other 7-footer that took on the Ike assignment. "We were just more disciplined, we were better at executing our game plan on him. ... He's a hell of a player and he made some good shots and made some tough shots in the first. We just had to weather that a bit, wore him down. It was a team cover."
After a run of nine straight games where Ike scored at least 20 points, the senior was held below that total for the second time this week, making 7 of 14 shots from the field and 2 of 5 from the 3-point line. Ike went 2 of 5 from the field and committed three turnovers in the second half.
"Adjustments, no," Bennett said, asked if the Gaels changed anything after Ike's big outing last month. "We had a plan on defending him and I didn't think we executed. We didn't do our job well enough. At halftime, he had 13 and our fives had zero. Just challenged them a little bit. Our guys are better than that. He's a heck of a player. I mean, a heck of a player. I just think we did a better job.
"Attrition takes place in that gym. It's hot in there. You got to really be emotionally stable the whole way. It's just tough. And he's really tough. I just think we wore him down a little bit."
Man down
Warley may not have extinguished Saint Mary's by himself, but the wing's absence didn't go unnoticed in a game where the Zags frequently lost shooters and struggled to create turnovers.
The senior traveled with the team, but missed his second straight game with a left quad contusion. Gonzaga's eight-day layoff theoretically gives Warley time to recover before the team opens the WCC Tournament against an opponent still to be determined.
"He's hurt, he's just hurt, he's not moving great," Few said. "It doesn't seem to be getting better, he's kind of nonfunctional when he's out there. So yeah we're trying to stack some days, hopefully stacking these days will get some results. We're just not getting there, he's just not moving very well at all.
"Obviously really impacts because he does so much and definitely kind of keeps us organized, but also makes all those hustle plays on those broken plays. Then gets us defense to offense, which is what we really need."
All things that could've helped the Zags in a game where they caused only six turnovers, gave up 15 offensive rebounds, scored just six fast-break points and allowed the Gaels to make 48% from the 3-point line.
"Would've loved to have had him out there, he does a lot of things," Adam Miller said. "Obviously you can see how his presence is missed. He's a hell of a player and I think if we had him out there tonight, it definitely would've been a little tougher for them because he does so many things."
Mad respect
Since the start of the 2004-05 season, Gonzaga's accumulated the highest winning percentage of any college basketball program (.838).
Ranking two through four on that same list: Duke (.804), Kansas (.801) and the Saint Mary's program (.752) that Gonzaga faced on Saturday evening, potentially for the final time as a WCC member.
The Zags and Gaels have developed a strong rivalry over the years, but any perceived tension between the respective coaches has been overshadowed by growing mutual respect.
That was on display again when Gonzaga's Mark Few and Saint Mary's Randy Bennett crossed paths before Saturday's tipoff and after the final buzzer sounded on an 11-point Gaels win.
"I told him this before the game and after the game. It might have been one of the best coaching jobs he's done," Bennett said. "(Braden) Huff's a heck of a player. They lose Huff and they just kept winning. They only lost two games coming into this."
With Saturday's victory, the Gaels have now won six of the last 11 meetings between the schools and at least a share of four straight WCC championships. Granted, it took Bennett roughly 15 years — if not longer — before his Saint Mary's program could compete with Gonzaga on an annual basis. The Zags are still 59-18 against the Gaels under Few.
"Early on in my career, it was a big game because Gonzaga was big," Bennett said. "Eventually, we beat 'em. Then we started chipping away. Kept coming. It's a rivalry now. If you don't beat 'em it's not a rivalry. It was a big game tonight."
It could be an even bigger one on Mach 10 in Las Vegas, should the Zags and Gaels meet for the fifth consecutive year in the WCC Tournament championship.
"I love that game. You just don't get that many," Bennett said. I think Mark and I are friends. There's no animosity there. If you can be a part of that, it's special. They've won more games than anybody in college basketball, I'm going to say the last 25 years. I think there's a mutual respect there."