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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga’s Ryan Nembhard, Graham Ike named to Robertson Trophy midseason watch list

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (13) and guard Nolan Hickman (11) come together with guard Ryan Nembhard (0) after Nembhard drew a foul on a scoring play but missed the free throw during the second half of a college basketball game against the UCLA Bruins on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024, at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif. UCLA won the game 65-62.  (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)

Gonzaga’s Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard are still in the picture for one of college basketball’s major postseason awards, as both were named Monday to the midseason watch list for the Oscar Robertson Trophy.

Ike and Nembhard are two of 50 players named to the watch list and the only players from the West Coast Conference to receive the honor.

The Gonzaga teammates have also been named to other watch lists for national awards, including the John Wooden Award and the Naismith Player of the Year Award. Nembhard was named Monday as one of 10 candidates for the Bob Cousy Award, given to the nation’s top point guard.

Nembhard currently ranks No. 1 nationally in assists per game (9.8) and total assists, with 229 through 23 regular-season games. Gonzaga has posted the country’s top assist-to-turnover ratio and also ranks No. 1 in assists per game with 19.8.

The senior point guard has reached double-digit assist numbers in 14 games this season and needs just 15 more to break Gonzaga’s single-season assists record, set by Nembhard last year in the NCAA Tournament.

Ike is the WCC’s fourth-leading scorer, averaging 17.6 points per game, and has scored at least 20 points in 11 games, including in five of the last six. He scored a season-high 28 points in Gonzaga’s Dec. 7 loss to Kentucky and scored 46 total points last week during a win over Oregon State and loss at Saint Mary’s.

The senior forward from Aurora, Colorado, has posted four double-doubles and is averaging 7.2 rebounds per game.

Gonzaga is one of seven schools with multiple players on the watch list, joining Iowa State (Keshon Gilbert, Curtis Jones), Kentucky (Otega Oweh, Lamont Butler), Rutgers (Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper), Purdue (Braden Smith, Trey Kauffman-Renn), Tennessee (Chaz Lanier, Zakai Zeigler), Duke (Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel).

Hunter Sallis, the former Gonzaga guard who’s now in his second year at Wake Forest, was also one of the 50 players named to the midseason watch list.

The award will be given out during the Final Four in San Antonio from April 5-7.