Gonzaga Nation

What Gonzaga's Mark Few said after win vs. Loyola Marymount

The Bulldogs cruised to a 28-point win over the Lions behind big nights from Graham Ike and Khalif Battle

Cole Forsman

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few.
Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford
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Graham Ike scored 27 points, Khalif Battle added a season-high 26 points and Gonzaga cruised to a 96-68 victory over Loyola Marymount on Saturday.

Led by their two seniors, the Bulldogs (12-4, 3-0 WCC) put together their most complete performance of the last eight days in a thorough beatdown over the Lions (9-7, 1-3 WCC).

In addition to making 52.8% of their attempts from the field, the Zags held LMU to just 38.2% and scored 17 points off 14 turnovers.

"Every game kind of has a life of its own and the opponents are different, but this was definitely a complete performance," Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said after the game. "Our defense was rock solid against a team that came in very confident. They played great against Oregon State. So I thought we did a great job there and stayed with it through the second half."

Here's more of what Few had to say following his team's third straight win.

On Graham Ike's big night:

"He was forceful ... he was just being Graham. I don't think it was out of body or anything, he was just really solid. I told him that, we get that every night that's such an advantage for us to get that out of that 5-spot and defensively, he was terrific too. He was active and rebounding and contesting shots. So it's just been hard, you get inconsistent games, or sometimes inconsistent spurts in these games, and that's kind of been dogging us a little bit. So I was really happy for him."

On Khalif Battle's impact on both ends of the floor:

"His defense, where he was actively making plays, not getting lost was big a part of those points. I think he's in a good place; we got to keep him there. Again, it's been hard. Sometimes you get one up and one down."

On the entire team stepping up for an all-around performance:

"I thought everybody got in there and really contributed. Dusty [Stromer] had a solid game. Nolan [Hickman] was really, really solid with what we wanted to do with our core defense and how we wanted to go downhill against their ball screens. Ryan [Nembhard], I mean, to deal with that physicality and that type of pressure, and have to guard Johnson on the other end and end with 11 [assists] and two [turnovers] is pretty, pretty spectacular."

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Cole Forsman
COLE FORSMAN

Cole Forsman is a reporter for Gonzaga Bulldogs On SI. Cole holds a degree in Journalism and Sports Management from Gonzaga University.

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