Gonzaga’s Graham Ike embraces Spokane life heading into his senior season: 'It’s another home for me'

‘Definitely a place where I’m comfortable, a place that I love. A place I see myself coming back to.'

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Gonzaga men’s basketball center Graham Ike admitted he isn’t the fisherman that his coach Mark Few is, but that hasn’t stopped him from giving it the good ol' college try.

“I wouldn’t say I’m anywhere near his level,” Ike said. “I’m still beginning you know. I just like to have fun with it.”

Ike has one catch he’s particularly proud of — about a footlong pike he caught with his uncle last summer — but fishing is really just one of many ways the 6-foot-9 Wyoming native passes the time in the heat of Spokane summers when he isn’t at the Volkar Center on Gonzaga’s campus.

“Just the lake days, man. I’ll step out to the pond right over by where I live, just get good scenery,” Ike said. “I like to read, just get out in the sun and [I’m] huge on those lakes.”

That’s probably not at all how Ike envisioned his Spokane summers playing out about a year ago when he first moved to the Inland Northwest from Laramie, Wyoming. Originally from Aurora, Colorado, Ike didn’t really know much about his new home 1,000 miles away in Washington. His first impression was to compare Spokane to Los Angeles — a take that he still gets flack for from his teammates and one he now wishes he could take back.

“It’s not LA, but it’s a great place to be,” Ike said of Spokane. “It’s another home for me. Definitely a place where I’m comfortable, a place that I love. A place I see myself coming back to.”

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Safe to assume Ike’s teammates have similar sentiments about Spokane, as the Bulldogs’ first summer practice featured 10 players from the 2023-24 squad that won 15 of its last 18 games and advanced to the program’s ninth straight Sweet 16 appearance. In an era of college athletics where NIL opportunities have run wild and the transfer portal offers unlimited movement, not a single player from Few’s main rotation considered options elsewhere. 

But they all didn’t come back just to have fun lake days — after adding some solid pieces from the transfer portal, the 2024-25 Zags have championship-level aspirations. Michael Ajayi, a 6-foot-7 wing from Pepperdine, offers elite shotmaking as a 47.0% 3-point shooter last season. Khalif Battle, a grad transfer from Arkansas and better known as "KB", “puts that ball in that bucket at a high rate” according to Ike, while Emmanuel Innocenti from Tarleton State is a defensive specialist on the perimeter.

“I think we’re going to have a really successful season just based on today and what we’re looking like right now,” Ike said. “Just how much fun we’re having with it at this time. We’re not getting burnt out, we’re enjoying each other’s time and we’re seeing each other grow and ultimately we want to win a national championship.”

"All of [the incoming transfers] surprise me in their own way," Ike said. "Like [Ajayi], his shotmaking ability really shocked me. Especially his first two weeks here I didn’t expect him to look like that — he looked really polished, really good on both ends of the floor. KB also puts that ball in that bucket at a high rate. And he plays with such great heart and passion, and I love that about him."

Ike shared more about Gonzaga’s competitive summer practices, how he’s improved his game this offseason and much more on a new episode of Gonzaga Nation with Dan Dickau.

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE BELOW:

Produced by Thomas Gallagher.

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