NCAA basketball

PORTLAND – One-loss Gonzaga had big plans for the next two to three months.

College basketball in February means conferences are headed down the homestretch of the regular season.

Three takeaways at the buzzer from Gonzaga’s 87-80 road loss to Portland on Wednesday at the Chiles Center.

To hear Kourtney Grossman describe it, rebounding is really simple.

Graham Ike stole the show Saturday as No. 6 Gonzaga downed rival Saint Mary’s 73-65.

PORTLAND – The month of January could probably fill a full episode of a reality television series about Gonzaga’s 2025-26 basketball season.

PORTLAND – In 2024-25, the West Coast Conference’s Freshman of the Year award went to forward Austin Rapp, a University of Portland standout hailing from Melbourne, Australia.

Welcome to the latest installment of the Hotline’s Pac-12 men’s basketball power rankings, our weekly assessment of a conference that doesn’t exist (yet) using results, analytics and a dash of common sense. The power rankings will be published each Monday through the end of the regular season. Here is last week’s edition.

One of Gonzaga’s bigger wins of the season – a hard-fought 73-65 victory over rival Saint Mary’s – didn’t move the needle in terms of polls, NET ratings and NCAA Tournament projections. The Zags, riding a 15-game winning streak, stayed put at No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and slipped from fourth to fifth in the NET rankings.

Eight months after capturing an NBA championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder, former Gonzaga center/forward Chet Holmgren earned his first NBA All-Star nod.

The blood stains on Jalen Warley’s white Gonzaga jersey may not have been visible to the 6,000 fans that crammed into McCarthey Athletic Center Saturday night, but they were discernible to a group of reporters sitting within 5 to 20 feet of the senior wing at a postgame news conference.

Graham Ike's 30 points leads No. 6 Gonzaga over Saint Mary's.

PULLMAN – About a month ago, in a circular arena just off Portland’s Willamette River, David Riley had to coach his you-know-what off. His Washington State team was down eight to Portland, and the more the Cougars scuffled on offense, the more their head coach looked like he was searching for answers his team didn’t have.

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – The Idaho men’s basketball team bounced back in a big way on Saturday.

Graham Ike, sidelined the last three games with a right ankle injury, carried GU’s offense for long stretches against the Gaels. The 6-foot-9 senior post delivered 14 first-half points, including the team’s only made 3-pointer, in 17 minutes. He missed his first five shots of the second half before finding his shooting stroke.

Graham Ike took care of the offense with 30 points, but Gonzaga took care of Saint Mary’s 73-65 Saturday in large part by shutting down the Gaels’ Paulius Murauskas in the second half and winning the glass throughout.

There are a few things one can count on when ESPN broadcasts the West Coast Conference’s annual Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s showdown in Spokane. The game will start late. There is a great chance the first few minutes, or more, will come into your home via ESPN News, not the scheduled flagship.

PULLMAN – The Gonzaga women’s basketball team had to fend off Washington State and assorted challenges before escaping with an 81-75 West Coast Conference win Saturday before 1,470 at Beasley Coliseum.