SPOKANE, Wash. — The 11th ranked Gonzaga men's basketball team began their season with a convincing 96-58 victory over Lewis-Clark State.
Gonzaga's new big men led the way as Wyoming transfer Graham Ike led all scorers with 24 points and reshirt freshman forward Braden Huff chipped in 21 points off the bench.
The Zags hopped out to a 10-0 start beginning with an Ike dunk and culminating with a Steele Venters jam.
Lewis-Clark State cut the GU lead to just two at 22-20 thanks in large part to its leading scorer, Lorenzo Marsh, who finished with 14 points.
Gonzaga would then embark on a 29-8 run to end the half by feeding Ike and Huff.
"Everyone feeds off of each other really well. Everyone is super unselfish and we don't care about individual stats or anything like that and the main goal is winning. I think we established that from day one," Huff said.
The new Gonzaga floor general, Ryan Nembhard, finished the game with 10 assists and displayed good chemistry with Ike all night long.
"He just makes the game so easy. We got here on our visit together and to see the kind of player and person he was then, that was definitely someone I wanted to be around," Ike said.
GU outscored LCSC 45-30 in the second half as Huff and Ike contributed 10 points apiece.
"There was great energy tonight. To be a part of it, on the floor with these guys, and seeing the fans going crazy and having a great time, was a dream come true to me," Ike said.
Coming off of a closed door scrimmage against Baylor where the Zags turned the ball over almost 20 times, GU took much better care of the ball tonight, which pleased Head Coach Mark Few.
"I think we did a couple of things better than we did in the Baylor scrimmage, which is good. It was good that they addressed those and took them to heart and I think it was great for our guys to get out there and play in front of our home fans," Few said.
For the Warriors, former Pullman High School standout Grayson Hunt chipped in six points and Gonzaga Prep alum Sam Stockton had three assists and three rebounds as he played in front of his father John, who returned to the Kennel for the first time since 2021.
The Zags officially begin their regular season slate next Friday at home against Yale. Tip off for the game is set for 6:00 pm.
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