Gonzaga’s Graham Ike, Ryan Nembhard named to Wooden Award preseason watch list

Bulldogs duo featured on list of 50 players in contention for nation’s top player award

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

The preseason accolades continued to roll in for the Gonzaga men’s basketball team following its emphatic start to the regular season. 

Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard were tabbed to the John R. Wooden Award preseason watch list on Thursday. The list of 50 players, chosen by a preseason poll of college basketball experts, are the early front runners for two of the most prestigious honors in the sport: the Wooden Award All American Team and the Most Outstanding Player Award.

The Zags were one of a handful of schools with multiple representatives on the preseason watch list. Kansas led the way with four players total (KJ Adams, Dickinson, Dejuan Harris and AJ Storr), followed by Alabama (Grant Nelson, Cliff Omoruyi and Mark Sears) and Baylor (VJ Edgecomb, Norchad Omier and Jeremy Roach) with three players each. UConn (Alex Karaban and Liam McNeeley), Houston (L.J. Cryer and J’Wan Roberts) and Rutgers (Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper) also had two players on the watch list.

Nembhard finished top 10 in the country in total assists and guided Gonzaga to its ninth straight Sweet 16 appearance while breaking the program record for assists in a single season in 2023-24. The Canadian led the West Coast Conference in assists per game (6.9) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.9, 4.0 in WCC play). He was in the top 15 in the conference with 12.6 points per game and was sixth in the league at 1.4 steals per WCC game.

Nembhard dished out 11 assists to go with six points in Gonzaga’s 101-63 victory over No. 8 Baylor to start the season. Those assists plus his totals from his final six games last season give him a 72:17 assist-to-turnover ratio in that span. 

Coming off a foot injury the year prior, Ike went through some growing pains as well early on last year, though the 6-foot-9 forward eventually rose to one of the best low-post scorers in the country by season’s end. He put up 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while shooting 71.5% at the rim, per hoop-math.com. According to KenPom.com, Ike’s 123.0 offensive rating was second-best in the country behind Zach Edey (128.8).

Ike helped add fuel to the fire against the Bears in the second half, as he scored 11 of his 15 points after halftime, in addition to some stout defense early on in his matchup with Omier. 

The Wooden Award is the second notable preseason watch list to feature both Zags. Nembhard and Ike were also named to the 50-player watch list for the 2025 Naismith Trophy, as well as the 20-player watch lists for their respective positional awards. Nembhard is in contention for the Bob Cousy Award (point guard) while Ike is up for the Karl Malone Award (power forward).

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

• Gonzaga states case for No. 1 ranking in Top 25 college basketball polls

• Top plays from Gonzaga's win over Baylor

• Gonzaga point guard Ryan Nembhard makes spectacular no-look pass

• What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after win vs. Baylor

• NCAA Tournament bracketology: Gonzaga up to No. 1 seed in West Region

• Barack Obama breaks down funny handshake with Gonzaga’s Mark Few

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