Graham Ike’s back-down game was a central part of the scouting report No. 23 Creighton put together before traveling to Spokane for Tuesday’s contest at No. 19 Gonzaga.
The Bluejays had cut-ups highlighting Ike’s post moves, duck-ins, face-ups and short floaters. It’s safe to assume they covered every base when it came to how to contain Gonzaga’s All-American candidate within a few feet of the basket.
It’s unlikely the Bluejays prepared for a scenario where the fifth-year senior would put them behind the 8-ball early with three consecutive 3-pointers inside the first three minutes, followed by a fourth midway through the second half as the Zags continued to pull further away in Tuesday’s Top 25 showdown.
Ike, who’d never made more than two 3’s in his career — that’s 117 games before Tuesday — set the tone with four 3’s against Creighton and registered his third double-double of the year with 20 points and 10 rebounds in a 90-62 blowout of the Bluejays at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
A fragile six-point halftime lead ballooned into a 32-point advantage late in the second half, as the Zags sped off on a 24-5 run to separate from the Bluejays.
It all started with Ike’s early 3-point barrage. Creighton dared Gonzaga’s veteran forward to shoot, probably the result of his 3-point numbers through two games. Ike opened 0 of 4 against Texas Southern and Oklahoma, but drilled his first 3 of the season on Gonzaga’s fourth offensive possession to make it 3-0.
“I definitely expected it, I missed my first four of the season, so I thought they’d probably sag a little more after watching the Oklahoma game,” Ike said. “It felt good. We put in the work every day. Just have to trust and believe it’ll go in.”
Ike didn’t need much encouragement to shoot by the time his third 3-pointer dropped through the net less than two minutes later, giving him his ninth point of the evening and 2,000th of his career.
“It feels great, man,” Ike said of the milestone. “It’s been a long time coming. I’m grateful I can play on such great teams with great people that can get me the ball. I wouldn’t be here without them so I appreciate all of them.”
Ike only second-guessed once from the 3-point line, hesitating from the top of the arc late in the first half. After passing up a shot, Ike brought the ball back down to his waist and took a single dribble before Creighton’s Ty Davis pried it away and drew a foul on the Gonzaga forward.
Ike was more decisive on his final attempt from deep, though, pulling up from roughly the same spot on the opposite end of the floor to extend Gonzaga’s lead to 58-45. Between the 3’s, Ike had success from most of his usual spots, beating Creighton’s defense with high- and low-difficulty shots around the paint. He finished 8 of 10 from the field after making his first seven attempts.
“He has worked really hard on those (3-pointers), but it’s still a small part of his game,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “They decided to kind of play off our bigs and I think both he and (Braden) Huff are more than capable of shooting out there. But yeah, I’m glad he got rewarded for all his hard work.”
The forward’s unexpected outside flurry wasn’t enough to give the Zags a comfortable halftime advantage, and GU led by just six points at the break — mostly the byproduct of losing Creighton’s 3-point shooters and sending the Bluejays to the charity stripe for 16 free throw attempts.
Gonzaga made the proper defensive adjustments after halftime and watched the foul discrepancy even in a hurry.
The Zags went on a 19-0 run at one point, holding Creighton’s hot-shooting offense without a field goal for 6 minutes, 40 seconds. GU’s offense didn’t stall during that period, with the Zags relying on contributions from freshman point guard Mario Saint-Supery, who scores 10 of the team’s 12 points during one four-minute stretch and had more than one aggressive take into the lane.
“The second half was just a nightmare,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “We were soft offensively and that carried over to what we were doing on the defensive end.”
Saint-Supery wasn’t timid in only his third college game, making 5 of 6 shots from the field and both of his 3-pointers to finish with 13 points, four rebounds and three assists. Jalen Warley contributed another solid scoring and rebounding effort with nine points and nine rebounds, while Huff overcame a rough start to finish with 14 points on 7 of 12 from the field. Adam Miller was the fourth GU player to score in double figures, reaching 11 points on 5 of 8 from the field.
Creighton, which scored 92 points in its season opener against South Dakota, followed a 38-point first half with just 25 in the second. The Bluejays were just 7 of 25 from the field and 2 of 12 from distance after halftime, committing 18 total turnovers.
Owen Freeman, one of the top forwards in the transfer portal this offseason, was limited to just two points in 15 minutes. The former Iowa player has been on a minutes restriction after tearing his meniscus in the spring and logged only 19 minutes in the team’s opener against South Dakota.
“He really hasn’t done anything in 10 months,” McDermott said, “so we have to be careful with that.”
The Bluejays were led by Blake Harper and Nik Graves, who scored 12 points apiece. Graves made 5 of 13 shots from the field but missed all six of his 3-point attempts.
The Zags (3-0) resume nonconference play on the road Friday night against Big 12 opponent Arizona State (2-0). Gonzaga clipped the Sun Devils 88-80 at the Kennel last season when Miller was wearing an ASU uniform.
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