Color Scheme

Subscribe now
Gonzaga Basketball

Analysis: No. 7 Gonzaga achieves trifecta of milestones with 96-56 win over Pepperdine

Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Tyon Grant-Foster (7) heads to the basket against Pepperdine Waves forward Javon Cooley (23) and draws a foul during the second half of a college basketball game on Sunday, Dec 28, 2025, at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif. Gonzaga won the game 96-56. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Tyon Grant-Foster (7) heads to the basket against Pepperdine Waves forward Javon Cooley (23) and draws a foul during the second half of a college basketball game on Sunday, Dec 28, 2025, at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, Calif. Gonzaga won the game 96-56. (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

MALIBU, Calif. – The key numbers for No. 7 Gonzaga entering Sunday’s road test against Pepperdine: 30, 50 and 70.

The Zags traveled to Firestone Fieldhouse seeking their 30th straight victory in a West Coast Conference opener, their 50th consecutive win over Pepperdine and 70th all-time victory against the Waves.

By halftime, it became a question of how Gonzaga would go about accomplishing the trifecta of milestones, rather than if it would actually happen.

The first four minutes more or less encapsulated what’s played out over the last two decades between the longtime WCC rivals. The Zags took the suspense out early, scoring nine straight points out of the gates and leading by 18 at halftime before eventually putting the final touches on a 96-56 victory. It makes them just the second team in NCAA history to win at least 50 consecutive games against another Division I opponent.

UCLA, the other member of that exclusive club, won 52 straight games against Cal from 1961-85. UCLA great and legendary NBA sharpshooter Reggie Miller, a member of the Bruins team that had its streak snapped by Cal in 1986, made the short drive from his home in Malibu to watch Gonzaga pick up its 50th straight win over Pepperdine. Miller attended with his son, Ryker, and sat courtside next to former NBA guard Chandler Parsons.

“That’s just a crazy stat,” Few said. “I had no idea. My first couple years as the head coach, they were our fiercest rival, maybe even longer than that. Yeah I don’t know, that’s crazy. Thank God we’ve had a lot of great players and a lot of great teams.”

Sunday confirmed what became fairly obvious during Gonzaga’s nonconference schedule: There are more than two or three great players on the Zags’ 2025-26 roster.

Gonzaga had contributions up and down, from the starting lineup to the bench, from the backcourt to the frontcourt, from the opening tip to the final buzzer.

Making his first start since Nov. 14 at Arizona State, point guard Braeden Smith was on triple-double pace in the first half and finished with 15 points, eight assists and five rebounds. It was Smith’s second straight game in double figures after the redshirt junior totaled a season-high 21 points in GU’s nonconference finale against Oregon on Dec. 21.

The Zags were balanced while cruising to their first WCC win and second true road win.

Graham Ike entered the game needing just five rebounds to reach 1,000 in his career. Ike cleared that mark in the first half and recorded his eighth double-double of the season, scoring 13 points to go with 10 rebounds. Ike finished 6 of 9 from the field. Although he accumulated a large share of his rebounds at Wyoming, Ike is still one of two players in Gonzaga history with at least 1,000 rebounds, joining Jerry Vermillion, who has 1,670 from 1952-55.

Tyon Grant-Foster matched his career-high with four blocks and scored 16 points for Gonzaga, finishing 6 of 7 from the field. Freshman wing Davis Fogle had 15 points off the bench and Braden Huff was the fifth Zag to finish in double figures, scoring 10.

“I’m just trying to find different ways to get myself going,” Grant-Foster said. “Trying to find ways to help the team every game. Today was me blocking shots and being good on the defensive end. If I can do that every game, get a couple blocks, make a couple shots, it’ll improve the team so much more.”

Preparing for Gonzaga’s last visit to Malibu as a WCC member, Pepperdine printed orange “Beat the Zags” T-shirts that were handed out at the arena’s main entrance.

By the midway point on Sunday, Pepperdine’s goals may have shifted to merely covering the 28½-point spread. The Waves couldn’t deliver on that front, either.

Gonzaga took a 9-0 lead out of the gates and didn’t concede a basket until Aaron Clark’s jumper at the 16-minute, 29-second mark.

The Zags played suffocating defense late in the first half, holding the Waves scoreless for 5 minutes, 17 seconds and without a field goal for 7 minutes, 41 seconds. Gonzaga went on an 18-0 run to take a 24-point lead.

Pepperdine was led by Yonatan Levy, who scored 15 points to go with six rebounds. Former Gonzaga forward Pavle Stosic started and played 15 minutes for the Waves, but was limited to just two points on 1 of 4 shooting.

A two-game Southern California trip concludes for Gonzaga (13-1, 1-0) on Tuesday against San Diego (6-7, 1-0) at Jenny Craig Pavilion. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m. and the game will air on KHQ/ESPN+. The Toreros won their WCC opener against Pacific, 66-54, earlier Sunday.