The past few days have been rough for No. 9 Gonzaga after losing star player Braden Huff to injury, but the Bulldogs will try to keep trudging on as they visit Seattle University on Saturday night in a West Coast Conference tilt.
Huff — who had been enjoying a career year, averaging 17.8 points and shooting 66.2% from the field — injured his left knee in practice earlier this week and is expected to miss four to eight weeks. But despite losing a focal point on offense, Gonzaga (18-1, 6-0 WCC) was able to beat Washington State 86-65 Thursday night.
Leading scorer Graham Ike shouldered the load with 23 points on 11-for-15 shooting and added in 11 rebounds, five assists and two steals. Adam Miller picked up some of the slack by tying a season high with 13 points and making three 3-pointers.
As a team, the Bulldogs shot 50% from the field (34 of 68) and dominated the boards 43-29, including a 17-10 edge on the offensive glass.
“We didn’t have much time to feel sorry for ourselves — that’s something that I’m very, very proud of this group,” coach Mark Few said after the win. “That was a really great win for us (Thursday) to go on the road and play a team playing their best basketball without one of the best players out west, the guys were great.”
With the wide time frame there isn’t much certainty for when Huff could be back; it could be before the regular season finishes, or it could be right before the NCAA Tournament. With limited big-man talent on the roster besides Ike, a smaller lineup could be in play for Few.
That could mean more playing time for freshman Mario Saint-Supery. The 6-foot-3 guard from Spain has found some success, averaging 7.8 points and 4.1 assists per game while shooting 43.8% from 3-point range.
Seattle (13-6, 2-4) was also in action Thursday night, as the Redhawks were able to hold off San Diego 75-64 to end a three-game WCC losing streak. Junseok Yeo, a transfer from Gonzaga, led Seattle with 18 points while leading scorer Brayden Maldonado chipped in 16 points.
The Redhawks squandered a 15-point first-half lead, but rallied in the second half to secure the win.
“I think the way we started was great, I loved our energy, loved our physicality and then the press bothered us and we started getting very tentative and played on our heels and the whole energy of the game changed,” coach Chris Victor said in a postgame interview.
This will be the second matchup between these two schools this season, with Gonzaga overcoming an eight-point halftime deficit to beat Seattle 80-72 in overtime on Jan. 2.
Huff led all scorers with 28 points, but Ike provided a spark off the bench with 24 points and 10 rebounds to help mount the comeback.
The Redhawks didn’t go down easy, as Maldonado led the way for Seattle with 17 points and four steals. Only Michigan has held Gonzaga to a lower 3-point percentage this season than the Redhawks did, as they limited the Bulldogs to just 26.7%
–Field Level Media
