Graham Ike, Gonzaga hold off USF: 'That's a heck of a team we beat'

Missed free throws down the stretch nearly cost the Bulldogs

SPOKANE - The 6,000-strong packed inside the McCarthey Athletic Center on Thursday were given quite a treat, with a little stress mixed in, as the Gonzaga Bulldogs fought tooth-and-nail to beat San Francisco, 77-72.

The Bulldogs (14-5, 5-1 WCC) traded blows with the Dons (15-6, 4-2 WCC) for 30 minutes in a defensive showdown between West Coast Conference heavyweights. Gonzaga forced nine turnovers in the first half, resulting in 12 points, but San Francisco's stout defense made it difficult to get many clean looks in the painted area. It didn't help that Graham Ike and Anton Watson dealt with foul trouble early on.

The first 10 minutes after halftime was more of the same, as the Dons essentially answered any attempt the Bulldogs made at seizing momentum. Then, after a two-minute long drought from both sides, Gonzaga began to turn its defense into quick bursts on offense, as missed shots from San Francisco turned into long run-outs for Watson and Ike, who combined to score 32 of the team's 47 points in the second half. A 17-4 scoring run made it a 65-52 ballgame with just under three minutes left, but the Dons didn't go away easily.

San Francisco began intentionally fouling with over two minutes left in a gamble that nearly paid off. The Bulldogs struggled to put the game away at the charity stripe down the stretch and thus left the door open for the visitors to climb back into the game.

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Marcus Williams, who scored all 19 of his points in the final 18 minutes, led a furious comeback attempt that put the Dons down three on two separate occasions in the final 16 seconds. Williams gave his team life with a 3-pointer at the 1:56 mark to stop the bleeding, followed by another triple with 58 ticks to go to make it a 69-64 game.

Just as it looked like things were all wrapped up, Watson was called for a shooting foul while contesting a 3-pointer from Williams with 16 seconds left. Williams made all three, but Ike iced the game with two free throws.

"That's a heck of a team we beat," Mark Few said. "That's a very, very, very good win for us. 

Here are three takeaways from the win.

IKE THRIVES IN BIG MOMENTS

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

In a battle between two of the WCC's best big men, it was Ike who came out with flying colors against San Francisco's Jonathan Mogbo. The 6-foot-8 post entered Thursday averaging 20.2 points and 11.8 rebounds in league play, but Gonzaga's defense collectively made it hard for him to leave an impact as he finished with eight points on six shot attempts. The Dons didn't have an answer for Ike, though, as he tallied 22 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the floor and snagged seven rebounds.

"That's a fun challenge, that's why you play the game," Ike said. "Just to test where you're at as a team, as an individual and ultimately we got what we wanted from the outcome."

The most important stat line for Ike was the 10-for-11 showing on free-throw attempts. On a night the Bulldogs went 22-for-34 as a team at the charity stripe, Ike was the difference-maker down the stretch when his team desperately needed to put the Dons away for good in the final seconds. Ike, who entered the game as a 71.4% free-throw shooter on the season, seemed to relish in the big-time moment.

"Pressure makes diamonds," Ike said. "We practice those kinds of situations even this week. You gotta be ready at all times and then just staying together in the huddle, keeping each other up and ultimately knocking down free throws got us to where we wanted to get to."

Big picture, Gonzaga will need a confident and aggressive Ike like it did against San Francisco moving forward in WCC play. Whatever Mark Few and the coaching staff said to Ike at halftime worked, evidenced by his 19 points in the second half, but the 6-foot-9 post will have to be more consistent as Gonzaga's go-to guy in big-time games.

"Some games [Ike] just kinda casually gets into them or he's so unselfish he defers," Few said. "And he can't do that. We need him to be that guy that he was in the second half regardless of whatever the post coverages are."

"Maybe experiencing it now, after kind of getting off to a slow start but then kind of flipping the switch, we can firm up that behavior somehow cause obviously we need him."

FREE THROW WOES

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Much like the fans watching, all Few could feel was frustration as he watched his team clank free throw after free throw down the stretch. The Bulldogs missed six shots from the charity stripe over the final minute and change, which nearly resulted in a disastrous collapse after essentially putting the game away just minutes earlier. 

"It's just frustrating," Few said. "You're rooting for your guys, it's a tough position to be in. I just tell you they've done their work, they put their work in and that's all you want as a coach."

It wouldn't have been the first time free throws cost Gonzaga in a tightly-contested WCC game. Ryan Nembhard notably missed the first of a one-and-one in the final seconds of the loss at Santa Clara two weeks ago that would've given the Bulldogs a chance to play with a 3-point lead on the last possession if he had sunk both.

On the season, Gonzaga has knocked down just 69.5% of its free-throw attempts, which ranks 255th in the nation according to KenPom. For all that's been made about the team's 3-point shooting struggles, an inability to close out games and punish opponents for fouling won't fly every night in WCC play.

NCAA TOURNAMENT IMPLICATIONS

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

As it currently sits on the bubble in the latest ESPN Bracketology, every game from here on out will have some kind of impact on Gonzaga's NCAA Tournament hopes. That was especially true Thursday, as the Bulldogs improved to 28th in the NET Rankings with their Quad 2 win over the Dons, who are ranked 58th in the evaluation tool.

According to Bart Torvik, Gonzaga has a 74.4% chance of making the NCAA Tournament and a 58.8% chance of getting in with an at-large bid if it doesn't win the WCC Tournament in March. Those are good odds, but nothing close to a guarantee either. Unfortunately, there aren't many quality games left in WCC play outside of the home game against Saint Mary's (Feb. 3) and the last two regular-season games on the road against the Dons (Feb. 29) and Gaels (March 2).

At the same time, the lack of quality games means that one slip-up could spell doom for the future.

"We have to bring it each and every night or we put ourselves in a position to lose," Few said.