NCAA basketball

PULLMAN – Washington State may have found the perfect opportunity for its safeties and nickels to erase some of their forgettable recent outings.

Kansas 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson, Auburn’s 6-10 Johni Broome and 7-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner – GU point guard Ryan Nembhard’s former teammate at Creighton – receive the most publicity nationally, but few teams have a pair of bigs like Ike and Huff.

Here are three observations from No. 3 Gonzaga’s 84-41 win over Long Beach State Wednesday night at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Chris Acker made the most of the 48 hours between Gonzaga’s game against San Diego State on Monday evening and Wednesday’s matchup between his Long Beach State team and the Bulldogs at McCarthey Athletic Center.

The third-ranked Zags rolled to an 84-41 victory in its final tune-up before next week’s Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.

Stellar point guard play from Ryan Nembhard. Posts Graham Ike and Braden Huff combining for roughly their season average point total. The bench coming up big again.And the defense putting together another quality effort. Those have been Gonzaga’s trademarks early on this season and all were on display Wednesday against visiting Long Beach State.

During the last couple of men’s basketball seasons, it was common for David Riley to talk about how competitive Eastern Washington’s practices were, and how the reserves played every bit as well as the starters.

MOSCOW, Idaho – It took Julius “Juice” Mims getting undercut on one of his signature jams off a lob to ignite Idaho’s balky offense.

SAN DIEGO – Gonzaga scored a number of small wins on the stat sheet to emerge with a larger victory on Monday night, beating San Diego State 80-67 at Viejas Arena.

Neither the West Coast Conference coaches nor media knew the rocky start the Gonzaga women’s basketball team would face when the Zags were picked to defend their regular-season championship.

It's quite possible Long Beach State first-year head coach Chris Acker connected with his former boss, San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher, for some info on Gonzaga after the Zags’ latest win.

This won’t be Devin Askew’s first visit to Gonzaga’s McCarthey Athletic Center.

PULLMAN – A certain inevitability hangs in the arena when Cedric Coward decides to take matters into his hands. Washington State’s best player is so good because of his two-way ability, because of his natural scoring savvy, because of his game smarts and veteran experience.

SAN DIEGO – Graham Ike’s five previous games against San Diego State all culminated in defeat – four losses to the Aztecs during a three-year stint at Wyoming, followed by a double-digit loss to Brian Dutcher’s team last season at Gonzaga.

It’s rare to see much of a cheering presence for the opposing team during an Eastern Washington women’s basketball game at Reese Court.

Graham Ike’s five previous games against San Diego State all culminated in defeat – four losses to the Aztecs during a three-year stint at Wyoming, followed by a double-digit loss to Brian Dutcher’s team last season at Gonzaga. Ike was ready for a win over SDSU.

The sample size is small, but the results have been huge. In fewer than a handful of games, the fit between Gonzaga basketball and transfers Khalif Battle and Michael Ajayi has been seamless.

A San Diego-based reporter asked Gonzaga senior point guard Ryan Nembhard if he thought he would be able to “drive and dish that way” against San Diego State. “Yeah,” Nembhard said. “I did. I’m not going to lie.”

SAN DIEGO – Three observations from No. 3 Gonzaga’s 80-67 win over San Diego State on Monday night at Viejas Arena.