Key matchup: Bruising Santa Clara 7-footer Christoph Tilly enters Gonzaga game coming off career high

For long stretches of Thursday’s game at Gill Coliseum, Gonzaga’s Graham Ike and Oregon State’s Parsa Fallah traded body blows and baskets before both players eventually fouled out in overtime.
The tests won’t get any easier or less physical for Ike as the Zags enter Saturday’s matchup with Santa Clara and bruising center Christoph Tilly, a 7-foot, 240-pound junior who’s coming off the best offensive game of his college career.
Tilly’s had a handful of 20-point outings over three seasons at Santa Clara, but the veteran put it all together Thursday in a 57-54 loss at Loyola Marymount, accounting for nearly half of his team’s points while scoring a career-high 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field and 4 of 6 from the free-throw line.
The Berlin native faces Gonzaga two days after former German U-18 teammate Michael Rataj recorded a career-high 29 points for Oregon State during the Beavers’ 97-89 upset of the visiting Bulldogs in Corvallis.
Something will have to give during the matchup between Tilly and Ike, two physical bigs who generally play below the rim and with their backs to the basket.
While Tilly is coming off his best offensive effort, 25-point outings are nothing new to Ike.
Ike had his fourth such effort this season on Thursday while scoring 26 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field and 7 of 8 from the free-throw line .
Tilly has reached double figures in three of four career matchups against Gonzaga – he was scoreless in 2 minutes during the other – and combined for 28 points last season in two meetings with Ike.
Tilly is scoring at a career-high 12.9 points-per-game clip while recording the highest field-goal (57.1), 3-point (37.1) and free-throw (74.6) percentages of his career.
Ike’s 17.1 ppg are a tick higher than the 16.5 ppg he scored last season. The senior has improved his 3-point (47.1) and free-throw (80.0) percentages during his second season at GU.
It’ll be Ike’s job to contain Tilly for most of the game, but the Zags have a few other options with backup big Braden Huff and forward Ben Gregg, who’s shown the ability to guard centers and bigger forwards in certain matchups.
Gonzaga’s only 7-footer, freshman Ismaila Diagne, hasn’t played in a game since spraining an MCL in November. Diagne has participated in warmups the past three games and could be another candidate to guard Tilly if Ike, Huff and Gregg encounter foul trouble.