A special night at the McCarthey Athletic Center for many reasons. It was Senior Night in Spokane, Washington, as the No. 9 Gonzaga Bulldogs (28-2, 16-1 WCC) honored the likes of forward Graham Ike, guard Adam Miller, wing Jalen Warley, wing Steele Venters, and forward Noah Haaland for their contributions to the program.
Some notes on that. Wing Tyon Grant-Foster opted out of the celebration as he already had a Senior Night experience with the Grand Canyon Antelopes last season. As for Venters, this may not be the last time that he will compete in the Kennel. The Eastern Washington Eagles transfer missed the past two seasons with the Zags due to separate injuries and will submit a medical hardship waiver with the NCAA to gain one more year of college basketball eligibility.
Four seniors ended up getting the starting nod against the Portland Pilots (12-18, 5-12 WCC): Miller, Venters, Ike, and Haaland, along with freshman guard Mario Saint-Supery. Warley didn’t play as coach Mark Few said that he was at 50-60 percent healthy, with the thigh bruise still bothersome. He suffered the injury in the last Portland matchup back on Feb. 4.
Revenge was on the brain for the disastrous 87-80 loss to the Pilots at the Chiles Center, which seems like an eternity ago. Ike took the disappointment extremely personally, as was evident through his play. The big man on campus scored the first seven points for Gonzaga and looked like a three-point sniper throughout. No one would have thought about his game when he transferred in three years ago.
The All-American candidate finished with a game-high 19 points on 7-for-13 field goals and 3-for-6 three-pointers to go along with eight rebounds and a career-high seven steals in his final time playing in Spokane, Washington. He tied Derek Raivio for the most steals in a single game in the Few era. A fitting end to a memorable career and indeed a Zag for life.
Portland guard and West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year favorite Joel Foxwell started right where he left off from the last time he went up against Gonzaga, scoring eight of his team’s first 10 points. He would cool off after that, contributing 12 points on 4-of-12 field goals and 2-of-6 three-pointers, plus four rebounds, four steals, and zero assists/five turnovers in the loss. Junior wing Emmanuel Innocenti was locked in on his Foxwell defensive assignment and shut him down in the latter part of the first half and beyond.
The Pilots went through a scoreless stretch of nearly six minutes halfway through the first half and couldn’t take care of the ball for the entirety of the contest. Coach Shantay Legans’ group had a season-high 22 turnovers against the Zags, who scored a whopping 26 points off those turnovers.
Right before heading to the halftime locker room, Few drew up a stunning play coming out of a timeout on the backdoor lob action from Saint-Supery to Grant-Foster. Completely caught Portland’s defense off guard.
Without junior forward Cameron Williams (concussion), who didn’t make the trip to the Inland Northwest, the Pilots struggled to get an offensive rhythm going. Especially in the pick-and-roll in his absence. He is Portland’s second-leading scorer at 11.1 per game and leading rebounder at 5.0 per game. Williams scored 15 points in their first outing against Gonzaga earlier this month.
The Zags were being dared to shoot from beyond the arc and made the Pilots pay for it. They tied their season-high 14 made three-pointers (vs. Maryland Terrapins at the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Nov. 25) on an unbelievable 36 attempts, translating to 39 percent from deep. Think how much more complete a team this Gonzaga group can be if they improve their overall shot selection and hit their three-pointers more consistently heading into March. And, of course, stay healthy while doing so.
Congratulations are in order for redshirt junior guard Braeden Smith, who reached the 1,000 career points milestone. He started his collegiate journey with the Colgate Raiders from 2022 to 2024. The Zags’ 2025-26 roster now has five players who have scored over 1,000 career points (Venters, Grant-Foster, Ike, Miller, and the injured redshirt junior forward Braden Huff, who is still on crutches).
Smith (15 points on a perfect 6-for-6 field goals and 3-for-3 three-pointers, four assists/one turnover, three rebounds, two steals) and Grant-Foster (12 points on 5-of-11 field goals and 0-of-5 three-pointers, four rebounds, one block), who put on a dunk contest versus Portland, were just having fun out there coming off the bench. Throwing each other lobs off the backboard, joking and laughing during timeouts. This tandem was on the same page when they were on the floor together.
What a special moment after the game for the team to cut down the nets in front of their home crowd, especially for the seniors. Ike, who played 95 games in a Gonzaga uniform, answered what he was going to miss most about the Kennel during the postgame interview with SWX’s Greg Heister, and his response will make his fans teary-eyed.
“This college experience these last three years has been amazing, phenomenal, ineffable. It’s so hard to describe because it’s so good, but it’s been everything I’ve dreamed of and then some.” – Gonzaga forward Graham Ike
Grant-Foster also made sure to let the media know how much the university has positively impacted his life in such a short amount of time spent there.
“Gonzaga culture is unbeatable. If you don’t get better here, you’re missing the whole point of Gonzaga basketball. You come here to be with other great players.” – Gonzaga wing Tyon Grant-Foster
Some memorable figures to take away after Senior Night:
One final regular-season matchup before heading to the Orleans Arena, and it’s an important one. The rivalry matchup with the Saint Mary’s Gaels (26-4, 15-2 WCC0 at University Credit Union Pavilion in Moraga, California, is set for Saturday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m. PT on ESPN. Hopefully, this won’t be the last time that these two West Coast programs play each other.
Coach Randy Bennett’s squad took down the Santa Clara Broncos (23-7, 14-3 WCC) late Wednesday night at home, 86-67. Coach Herb Sendek’s unit looks to need to reach the West Coast Conference Tournament title game in Sin City in order to receive an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
Gonzaga is currently 6-1 in Quad 1 opportunities, as they look to add a seventh with a potential road victory over the Gaels. If they do, the Zags would be named the outright West Coast Conference regular-season champions.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho
