What Gonzaga’s Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard said after loss to Kentucky

Bulldogs senior duo broke down what happened during overtime loss to Wildcats

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike. / Stephen Brashear-Imagn Images

In an epic clash of top 10 teams, Saturday’s showdown between No. 7 Gonzaga and No. 4 Kentucky could be told in a tale of two halves — and then some.

The Bulldogs (7-2) came out of the gate on fire behind a hot start from Graham Ike, who scored 18 of his team-high 28 points in the first half,  leading his team to a 50-34 at the break. Senior guard Ryan Nembhard had control of the pace and finished with his fourth double-double of the season in a 13-point, 10-assist performance. Meanwhile, the Wildcats (8-1) couldn’t get into much of a rhythm early on.

Then, as Mark Few put it, Gonzaga’s basket had a lid over the top of it all of a sudden. The Zags misfired on 12 consecutive 3-pointers and weren’t as sharp around the rim as they had been in the first half, giving life to a Wildcats squad that had been waiting for a chance to strike back. A 16-2 run from Big Blue flipped the game on its head, sending things into overtime only for the Bulldogs to come up just short in the end.

Here’s what Ike and Nembhard had to say following the 90-89 overtime loss to Kentucky:

Ike on what changed for him from the first and second halves:

“I just felt like I was missing some good looks. They played well, pretty physical on both ends but I just felt like I was missing.”

Nembhard on the difference for him after halftime:

“[Kentucky] just changed the matchup [to Jaxson Robinson at point guard], did some couple different things in ball screens but, we missed some good looks from 3.”

Nembhard on whether the game had a postseason-like feel to it:

“Yeah, 100%. They’re a good team and obviously, we had our runs and they had their runs. It was a good basketball game and I think that’ll just prepare us for later in the year, for games like this and learn how to close out games a little bit better.”

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