Gonzaga rewind: Wings Jalen Warley, Tyon Grant-Foster carry load for Zags in San Diego win

SAN DIEGO – Mark Few pushed back against the idea there’d be any nostalgia as Gonzaga makes its final trips to different West Coast Conference venues during the program’s 37th and final year in the conference.

“No, not really, I’m kind of dialed into the task at hand,” Few said after Sunday’s win at Pepperdine. “We’re trying to really treat each of these league games as precious as they should be treated. We’re 1 for 1, we’ll see if we can do it 18 times.”

There may not be nostalgia, but some trips are bound to be more memorable than others.

Gonzaga’s final visit to San Diego was nearly memorable for all the wrong reasons as Few’s team built a 21-point lead, only to see it crumble down the stretch of an unsettling 99-93 victory at Jenny Craig Pavilion.

We review three of the key storylines in the latest edition of the Gonzaga rewind.

Winning wings

You might say the Zags were able to spread their wings during the recent road trip to Southern California.

Tyon Grant-Foster had his breakthrough game on Sunday at Pepperdine. Jalen Warley came alive on Tuesday at San Diego. Combined, the 6-foot-7 wings scored 40 points and totaled 19 rebounds, picking the Zags up in a big way when starting bigs Graham Ike and Braden Huff encountered foul trouble in the first half.

Warley contributed a team- and season-high 22 points, falling just short of the career-high 23 he scored at Florida State. Warley managed to set a personal best in another category, though, coming down with 14 rebounds to secure the first double-double of his career in his 111th college game. He also had three steals.

“I think I just tried to dial in on the rebounding, offensive and defensive,” Warley said. “Coach has been preaching it, just try to continue to make plays on the glass, so I feel like it started there and kid of trickled down to other aspects of the game.”

On more than one occasion, Warley picked the ball off the rim and led the Zags in transition. The redshirt senior who spent three seasons at Florida State still hasn’t attempted a 3-pointer for Gonzaga this season, but took advantage of driving lanes and repeatedly got to the basket for easy layups, finishing 9 of 14 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free- throw line.

“He was active and he took the message early on,” Few said. “We talked to the guys about, we’ve got opportunities to attack the rim, you’ve just got to have a plan and be strong. Our guards didn’t at the start of that game and he really understood that, did a good job I thought all game getting downhill and attacking and finishing plays, instead of just throwing it off the glass.”

Grant-Foster closed the SoCal trip with his second 18-point game, making 7 of 10 shots from the field. The Grand Canyon transfer made all three of his looks from the 3-point line against Pepperdine and San Diego and had three dunks on Tuesday.

“I thought Ty was solid, too,” Few said. “Yeah he was solid. He was solid.”

Defensive dilemma

Before Tuesday’s game, Gonzaga was one of just three teams in the country to rank inside the top 10 of KenPom’s adjusted offense and adjusted defense categories.

It’s not hard to imagine which of those numbers slipped after the Zags conceded 93 points to a San Diego program that had only eclipsed 80 against Division I competition just twice in nonconference play. The Toreros became just the second team to reach the 90-point milestone against Few’s team this season, joining Michigan. San Diego also reached 90 points in regulation against Gonzaga for the first time in program history.

“Listen, they’re a different team, man,” Few said. “The stuff they’re running, they’re five out, everybody’s running around the 3 line and cutting. It’s definitely different, especially when you’re playing bigs like we are. For the most part, we guarded pretty good in the halfcourt. A lot of it was in transition and then just come really bonehead plays by everybody just across the board. Then all the sudden you’ve got a ballgame.”

Most of the damage inflicted by San Diego came inside the final six minutes – a stretch that saw the Toreros score 26 points and trim Gonzaga’s 16-point lead to five with 11 seconds remaining.

San Diego’s field goal percentage (52.4%) was the second-highest allowed by Gonzaga this season. Michigan still holds that record, making 60% of its shots against the Zags at the Players Era Festival. The Wolverines also hit 13 3-pointers and delivered 29 assists in their 101-61 blowout. None of GU’s 14 opponents have matched those numbers, but San Diego ranks second after sinking 12 3’s and tallying 21 assists on Tuesday.

In KenPom’s rankings, Gonzaga’s adjusted offense held steady at No. 4 but the team’s adjusted defense dropped four spots from No. 8 to 12.

Controlling emotions

With 90 seconds remaining in the first half, Few pulled Graham Ike aside during a stoppage in play and put his arm around the 6-foot-9 forward, attempting to settle the senior down after a couple of small dust-ups with San Diego’s Vuk Boskovic.

When Ike committed a defensive foul against Boskovic late in the first half, the USD forward continued to jaw at his Gonzaga counterpart when the play ended. Officials rang up Boskovic for a technical foul, giving Few a moment to meet with Ike while Mario Saint-Supery shot technical free throws for Gonzaga.

Few’s message didn’t land with Ike the way he probably hoped it would. The Gonzaga forward was whistled for an offensive charge 29 seconds later and emotions spilled over when he walked back to the bench. Not long after sitting down, Ike hurled a plastic water bottle at the floor, incurring a technical foul that kept him on the bench until the 14-minute, 15-second mark of the second half.

“It’s just unacceptable, it’s not helping, it’s really, really hurting the team,” Few said. “He’s a great player, but that behavior’s just really hurting the team.”

It wasn’t the first, second or third offense for Ike since joining the Zags in 2023-24. The productive forward received a series of technical and flagrant fouls last year, prompting Few to replace him in the starting lineup during a road game at Portland. Ike’s first technical this season came in the team’s second game against Oklahoma at the Arena.

The senior was still productive for the Zags before and after his incident, totaling 11 points on perfect 5-of-5 shooting while adding nine rebounds.

“I think we just tell him we’ve got his back,” Warley said. “It’s a game of runs, so like we say, every dog’s going to have his day so we just continue to have his back and he’s got our back whether he’s playing great or he’s not having his best night, we always know G’s got our back. So it’s just geat playing with a high-level player like him.”