Gonzaga returned to the Kennel on Sunday for an early December tune-up on the heels of a stretch that had already delivered a 40-point collapse to Michigan and a 35-point correction against Kentucky. As expected, the Zags handled business at home, pummeling the Ospreys of North Florida, 109-58.
Up next comes UCLA, Oregon, and a narrowing runway of non-conference opportunities to beef up their résumé before West Coast Conference play begins. North Florida supplied precisely the level of resistance that reassures a home crowd and lifts the confidence of a team still finding itself but equipped with a roster full of good options.
Prior to tip-off, it was announced that the team’s leading scorer, Graham Ike, would be sitting this one out, nursing an ankle injury that’s hobbled him since Alabama. Credit to the dude’s toughness for playing through three games with a bum ankle and still notching a new career high in points. Ike is that guy.
From the opening tip the Zags attacked the Ospreys from every angle and with every weapon available, comfortably weathering the barrage of threes North Florida desperately relied on to try and keep things competitive.
The lead stretched early, the shot clocks stayed short, and the Bulldogs kept stacking clean looks in a matchup whose outcome was never really in question. The easy win also carried another meaningful ripple, since the blowout lifted Gonzaga to No. 3 in KenPom behind only Michigan and an Iowa State team that keeps forcing its way into the national picture after their 20-point route of Purdue.
Without Ike, the Zags rolled out their fifth different starting lineup in 10 games. Braden Huff slid into a full shift at the five, which brought Jalen Warley off the bench at the power forward spot. The absence of the usual physical edge and height Ike offers was hardly felt against North Florida’s undersized frontline. Huff settled in immediately and turned routine touches around the rim into a season-high 24 points on 12-17 shooting across 26 minutes of action.
Warley, for his part, reshaped the frontcourt completely, piling up three steals, a block, and five rebounds while keeping actions crowded around the nail. Emmanuel Innocenti and Steele Venters held their spots in the starting group over Tyon Grant-Foster, whose shot selection coach Mark Few questioned last week, and Adam Miller, who continues to chase the perimeter consistency he showed at Arizona State. As usual, Innocenti was an asset on the defensive end, even though the box score—two points, zero rebounds—paints the picture of a dude unworthy of the minutes. He also appeared to be managing some discomfort, unlacing a sneaker and heading to the bench in the second half, which ended his night before he had a chance to settle in or add anything else on the scoring side.
Ike’s absence also meant extended time for Ismaila Diagne, who played 22 minutes and finished with four points on two clean touches plus eight rebounds, three on the offensive end. His ball security and overall stamina still need work, but he supplied size and a dependable presence around the rim, which covered the gaps created by the adjusted frontcourt rotation. Despite 40 minutes without Ike, it’s hard to picture the Zags owning the paint any more decisively than they did against North Florida. The 35-18 rebounding margin and the 58-14 advantage in paint points underscores just how firmly Gonzaga handled the interior despite the hole left by Ike.
Mario Saint-Supery does it all
Mario Saint-Supery turned a routine December blowout into a showcase, finishing with 13 points in 20 minutes, perfect 4-4 shooting from deep, and seven assists. The offense keeps opening around him as he probes, retreats, changes angles, and picks out the next advantage before defenders track the shift. The Spanish freshman added two highlight-reel moments, beginning with a spot-up corner three that he converted into a four-point play, and a few minutes later, a dizzying behind-the-back assist through traffic to Huff for an easy layup.
A dependable outside shot from El Principito would unlock a fresh layer of spacing and add a new contour to an offense that already operates at an elite level. His reads have been getting quicker, and his style of play is something that Few has rarely–if ever–had at his disposal. The mix of control and invention continues to fold seamlessly into what this roster needs to accommodate all of the different weapons it features night to night.
Davis Fogle clearly has a longer leash to go get buckets than just about any player Few has coached. The freshman finished with 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting in 18 minutes, including 3 vicious dunks and a smooth jumper from outside. In his limited minutes off the bench, well after the outcome had been decided, he once again looked like the most dangerous pure scorer on this year’s roster. With Fogle on the floor, the offense shifts toward isolation space and early attack angles, and he turns those pockets into points with a level of ease the Zags haven’t seen since Rui Hachimura. Gonzaga’s game plan in the second half could best be described as “Let Fogle Cook,” and no one was mad about it.
He still needs to get comfortable playing against length and physicality, a hitch that reared its head in his run against Michigan, and that piece will shape his lower his ceiling for now, but his touches already carry unprecedented upside. Many would change the channel during a 50-point blowout, but Fogle is must-see in Zagville every time he checks in.
Gonzaga’s long-range numbers nudged upward after a night that finished at 10-for-18 from deep (and the total would have climbed to 11-for-19 if Tyon Grant-Foster’s one-foot corner fadeaway hadn’t been ruled a two). The season mark sits at 33.8%, the lowest of the Mark Few era, but the four-game sample of the Maryland game, the loss to Michigan, the route of Kentucky, and then North Florida tells a much different story about this team’s outside shooting. Gonzaga has gone 36-for-91 from deep across that four-game stretch, a figure dragged down by the 3-for-22 outlier against Michigan. Remove that game and the Zags are 33-69 from three, a 47.8% mark that reflects sharper spacing and greater willingness to let it fly.
Steele Venters and Mario Saint-Supery supplied the surge against North Florida with an 8-10 combined outing. Venters looked more decisive on every catch and stepped into shots without hesitation, and Saint-Supery continued his rise as a perimeter threat who can function as a floor-stretching off-ball guard as well as the primary ballhandler.
Sustaining that rhythm becomes the next challenge, because this offense reaches another level when the shots arrive in patterns rather than bursts. The rotation gives the staff options, though, since a different shooter keeps stepping forward each night, a rare asset for a group that relies so heavily on its bigs for scoring production.
There was plenty worth noting in this one. Walk-on Noah Haaland logged 3 extremely physical rebounds in garbage time; Gonzaga posted 19 fastbreak points but probably left 10+ more unfinished at the rim; Tyon Grant-Foster added 19 points including a 9-10 mark at the free throw line, a number that underscores the progress he continues to make in figuring out how to best contribute to the offense.
But what stuck out the most was the way North Florida stayed engaged throughout the night despite the blowout. The Ospreys ran their sets cleanly and generated 38 three-point attempts that came from organized actions rather than late-clock bailouts. They put up much more of a fight than Gonzaga saw from Kentucky, and several dudes on that roster should draw significant portal attention when the season ends.
The focus now shifts to UCLA on Saturday, Dec. 13, at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, a yearly highlight for Gonzaga fans. This year’s group heads into that tilt against coach Mick Cronin’s 7-2 squad with depth, speed, and an offensive game plan that grows more versatile and more dangerous each week.
