Braeden Smith Makes His Presence Known in Pacific Northwest Showdown

Ultimately, this wasn’t the showing around Christmas time that the Northwest Elite Showdown was hoping for from the two prominent universities on the West Coast. In Portland, Oregon, there was just a slight mix of red, blue, and green in the crowd, with little energy. Wouldn’t have guessed that from behind the scenes of the Moda Center.

Even Gonzaga coach Mark Few admitted he thought the turnout was going to be better from the Zag faithful from the surrounding areas. The announced attendance was just 10,055 of the 20,500 capacity.

“We have a great following, and I really, really, really appreciate everybody that showed up today. I mean, that was the plan when Dana (Altman) and I set this thing up. I got to be honest with you. I thought we’d have less of a stagnation than we have. We usually draw like crazy wherever we go, and especially in the Northwest. So, a little disappointed in that, but I was so happy for everybody that did show. And the team’s put on a great show.” – Gonzaga coach Mark Few

It was Gonzaga’s redshirt junior guard Braeden Smith who brought life back to the arena and, more importantly, his team off the bench. He differentiated himself with a team-high 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting, seven assists, and two steals. That was the best that has been seen from him in a Zag uniform so far, as the poised Smith was under complete control of the offensive tempo with his zero turnovers.

The reason that he had to step in this specific scenario was that freshman starting guard Mario Saint-Supery (zero points in only 13 minutes played) had been dealing with some sort of flu the past couple of days, according to Few’s postgame with the media. Smith stepped up and answered the call through his ability to score the bucket, but more importantly, not hand over scoring opportunities to Oregon.

“He (Saint-Supery) hasn’t been able to practice this whole week and woke up feeling not as good as we thought he was going to be today. So we tried him a little bit, and God bless him. He couldn’t really function too well out there. We leaned on (Braeden) Smith, hard, and he responded big time. He saved us and was a huge key to the game.” – Gonzaga coach Mark Few

Gonzaga only turned over the ball a total of five times under Smith’s leadership, a season-low for the group through the first 13 games of the 2025-26 season. They actually didn’t have any forced turnovers in the second half at all and finished with 20 assists overall, the sixth time that has been done this before the New Year.

As for the offensive star of this Zags roster of late, redshirt junior forward Braden Huff (20 points on 9-for-16 shooting, six rebounds, one block) continues his hot streak of being the go-to bucket at the basket with that patented, soft floater of his. When watching the pregame warm-ups, the biggest smile was coming off of Huff’s face. His teammates seem to like his demeanor off the court and respect his play on it even more.

Huff has been on a tear, finishing with 20+ points in seven of the last nine outings for Gonzaga. His continuous, polished effort as a post scorer on a game-by-game basis makes him one of the best with his back to the rim in the country.

His frontcourt counterpart, graduate forward Graham Ike, is sort of playing his sidekick as of late, while still being mentioned in the National Player of the Year conversation. But that’s a fine thing to be dealing with, as he added 17 points on 9-for-11 free throws and snagged a game-high 11 rebounds versus the Ducks. That was Ike’s seventh double-double of his final college basketball campaign.

What should have many excited in Spokane going forward is graduate wing Steele Venters’ newfound feeling of confidence from beyond the arc (14 points on 4-for-5 three-pointers in 25 minutes against Oregon). From not playing the last two collegiate seasons due to different injuries to now letting it fly with no hesitation is a welcome sight to see. Through the last four games, Venters has been unconscious on his looks from deep, going 11-for-17 (64.7 percent).

The team as a whole had one of its better three-point shooting displays to this point, hitting 10-for-23 (43 percent) against the Pacific Northwest foe. None was bigger than graduate wing Tyon Grant-Foster’s buzzer-beater to end the first half and shift the momentum heading into the locker room. He finished with 10 points on 2-for-5 field goals in just 14 minutes as a bench piece, further expressing the depth that resides in Few’s second unit.

That was just the third game this season that the Zags had double-digit three-point makes. They continue to make strides of improvement in that department.

Among Ducks junior guard Jackson Shelstad (12 points on 5-for-13 field goals/2-for-9 three-pointers and four assists/one turnover) and senior center Nate Bittle, who were once on Gonzaga’s recruiting radar back in high school, it was the seven-foot Bittle who was a pest for the likes of Huff and Ike with his game-high 28 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and four blocks. He looks like a Big Ten Conference First Team caliber-type of player.

The Zags seem to have a problem with players like Bittle, who possess that seven-foot size (like Michigan junior center Aday Mara back in the Players Era Festival title game in Las Vegas, Nevada). A relevant issue to pay attention to going forward as Gonzaga prepares for the tenuous month of March into April. They don’t want to get outphysicaled by larger bigs like Saint Mary’s 7-3 redshirt sophomore center Andrew McKeever, 7-1 senior center Harry Wessels, and 7-0 junior forward/center Jazz Gardner in the coming months of conference play.

When listening to Oregon coach Dana Altman’s postgame interview with the media, it seems like he’s starting to stack up excuse after excuse regarding his control of the team. He still hasn’t been able to find any sort of balance between the success of his three returnees (Shelstad, Bittle, and junior forward Kwame Evans Jr., who chipped in 14 points, seven rebounds in the interior, four assists) and the supporting cast. Especially with sophomore guard Wei Lin, who actually had one of his more solid contributions since coming to the States (nine points on 3-for-4 shooting in 17 minutes coming off the bench).

They could desperately use junior wing Devon Pryor back, who has missed the last three games with an undisclosed injury.

Take a look at Gonzaga’s record against power conference programs during the brutal non-conference scheduling from Few and his staff:

The No. 7 program in the country finishes the non-conference with a 12-1 overall record, winning its games by a 30.1 average margin. Few’s team is riding a wave, winning their last five games in a row.

As for the Ducks, they fall to a .500 winning percentage at a 6-6 overall record and now have to prepare for the grueling Big Ten slate before their final non-conference game against Omaha on Dec. 28.

The Zags have to now get ready for the grind that will be the final West Coast Conference play, starting with Pepperdine at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, California, on Sunday, Dec. 28, at 5 p.m. PT on ESPN+. Happy holidays to all.

KenPom/Net Rankings Update

Gonzaga ranks No. 4 in KenPom with the No. 3 offense and the No. 10 defense. As for the Net rankings, the Zags are placed at No. 5 with a 3-1 record in Quad 1 opportunities and 3-0 in Quad 2 opportunities.

Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho