United frontcourt: Why Graham Ike and Braden Huff couldn’t pass up another season together at Gonzaga

Graham Ike approached the most important question of his offseason, and by virtue, Gonzaga’s offseason, with a level of patience, thoughtfulness and maturity one might expect from someone who’s accumulated five years’ worth of experiences – career-threatening injuries, NCAA Tournament glory and everything in between – on a college basketball court.

When Gonzaga’s season culminated in the NCAA Tournament with an 81-76 loss to national runner-up Houston, Ike politely, and reasonably, declined to answer questions about his future. Even if he knew what was next, a wistful Gonzaga locker room inside Wintrust Arena wasn’t the place to deliver that news.

“I’ve still got a lot of time with these guys, even though we’re not playing basketball,” Ike said. “I’m in the moment.”

But with NBA draft and transfer portal deadlines gently applying pressure, and Gonzaga’s staff desiring some clarity sooner than later as they started to build out the 2025-26 roster, Ike began to deliberate.

His production the last two years at Gonzaga, and two prior at Wyoming, created three viable avenues: return to GU, where he’s carved out a defined role in Mark Few’s offensive system and become a beloved figure in the Spokane community; enter the transfer portal, where players of Ike’s caliber have been able to gauge their market value, often resurfacing with $2-5 million NIL packages; or call it a career after five years in college and pursue a lifelong dream of playing in the NBA.

A deep thinker who carefully calculates his moves on the court, Ike didn’t need much time or information to reach this particular conclusion.

“Honestly man, Gonzaga’s home,” he said. “… This is home, I didn’t want to leave.”

There was just one contingency, something that wouldn’t necessarily dictate whether he’d come back, but might influence it. Not an NIL stipulation. No guarantees related to playing time or shot volume. No promise that coaches would let Ike stretch his game out to the perimeter – perhaps the one obstacle standing between the accomplished forward and a career in the NBA.

The contingency? Braden Huff had to be on board.

“Me and B-Huff wanted to talk, make sure me and him were on the same page and this is something we wanted to do,” Ike said. “Embark on a great journey like that and it’s been wheels up ever since.”

Huff was an efficiency machine for the second straight season, generating point-per-minute production that’s seldom seen in the college game, or any level of basketball for that matter. During his redshirt sophomore season, Huff averaged 11 points in just 16.7 minutes per game while converting 61.3% of his shots inside the 3-point line.

Inevitably, there’d be high demand for a player with Huff’s skill set on the transfer market and the forward probably had more reason to go portal shopping than Ike, with two years of eligibility remaining.

There was a starting role waiting for him back in Spokane, but he’d still have to split shots, playing time and possibly NIL dollars with Ike. Had Huff entered the portal, chances are at least one other high-major program could’ve outbid Gonzaga in all three categories.

Appealing as that route may have been, it was missing one thing. Ike.

Mark Few’s frontcourt stars have grown close off the court during their time in Spokane. Ike estimates they spend roughly “two to three hours” together most days, not factoring in additional time spent at Gonzaga’s practices, workouts and film sessions. The teammates have taken a mutual interest in hit reality TV show “Love Island” and binge watch with walk-on guard Joaquim ArauzMoore. Ike was the “coach” of a Gonzaga-centric intramural softball team Huff played on.

A unique and somewhat surprising relationship has spawned between two players who’ve been in direct competition for the same minutes, at the exact same position on the floor, much of the last two years.

Huff’s potential was clear from the minute he debuted for the Zags, but the path to starter’s minutes became cloudy when GU signed Ike, a proven back-to-the-basket big man who’d been a preseason Mountain West Player of the Year at Wyoming.

A good soldier, Huff’s disposition or attitude never changed. The forward gladly accepted his role and capitalized on occasional opportunities to play extended minutes, usually the result of Ike’s foul trouble.

Huff delivered in those spots, sparking GU with 21 points in an early-season win against Arizona State. He came alive late in a Battle 4 Atlantis loss to West Virginia, supplying eight points in the final six minutes of regulation, and scored a season-high against Nicholls State, missing one shot from the field en route to 25 points.

Before Gonzaga’s nonconference game against UConn at Madison Square Garden, Huskies coach Dan Hurley highlighted Few’s frontcourt duo on a media call.

“I don’t think anyone’s got a center tandem like they do right now,” Hurley said. “It’s kind of like what we’ve had the last couple years with Adama (Sanogo) and Donovan (Clingan) where when the backup center comes in the game you kind of catch a break. It’s not like that for them.”

But, with Huff outgrowing his bench role and Ike eligible for a fifth college season, it was also reasonable to wonder how long the Zags could afford their luxury of frontcourt riches.

Unless the two players could coexist.

Fast-forward to March 11 and the WCC Tournament title game. GU’s staff felt the Zags needed a changeup against Saint Mary’s after consecutive regular-season losses to the Gaels. They pinpointed the matchup with 6-8 forward Paulius Murauskas. If the 6-10 Huff could attack the smaller Murausakas on offense and use his length to corral the WCC’s Newcomer of the Year on the other end, it might give Gonzaga the wrinkle needed to finally solve a season-long Saint Mary’s problem.

Huff started for the second time in his career – and more importantly in this context, started next to Ike for the first time – and GU rode double-digit scoring games from both bigs to a seven-point victory. In a low-scoring affair, they combined for exactly half of the team’s 58 points.

The Huff-Ike lineup flummoxed more than just Saint Mary’s. The teammates had 31 combined points in an NCAA Tournament romp of Georgia. Two days later, they were Gonzaga’s top scorers, and two of the only bright spots, with 38 total points – 27 from Ike, 11 from Huff – in a loss to top-seeded Houston.

The Zags unlocked a new way to attack opponents and potentially guaranteed something even more significant in the process: the return of their two most important players.

“It’s so much fun playing with Graham, he’s a great teammate, great guy so I think once we kind of saw – I think those last three games were a lot of fun and kind of saw we could build off that, which was big,” Huff said.

No need for a transfer portal.

“You see I didn’t jump into the portal, was no reason to,” Ike said. “This is home, I didn’t want to leave and obviously that’s why I didn’t because I’m here. … It’s really no other place like this on earth, especially in a college environment so I definitely wanted to be here as much as I could.”

No need for a change of scenery.

“There was people I was talking to, but being a Zag, I think it means a lot,” Huff said, “and this is ultimately where I wanted to be and I’m happy with the decision I came to.”

Gonzaga hit the frontcourt lottery, alerting the public that both players had elected to return with social media graphics on April 22, one day before the transfer portal closed.

Fans were on pins and needles up to that point, waiting on any news from either player, but Ike and Huff had been set on their decision for roughly a week by the time GU’s announcement went public.

“We talk every day, it’s nothing out of the regular,” Ike said. “We already know what it is, we’re going to get better and we only saw a glimpse of what it really could be and that’s the most exciting part, of what it could be.”

It’s a tantalizing thought, especially when you consider the most recent data points.

Ike connected on 8 of 13 shots to score 27 points against a Houston team that was impenetrable all season and had two rugged defenders, J’Wan Roberts and Joseph Tugler, patrolling the area around the basket.

Prior to facing Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Kelvin Sampson’s team hadn’t allowed 27 points to an individual player all season. Duke freshman Cooper Flagg, the consensus National Player of the Year, matched Ike’s point total in a Final Four meeting with Houston, but the No. 1 NBA draft pick did it on a lower shooting clip (8 of 19).

In a game where five of the eight Gonzaga players scored between zero and six points, Huff was another standout, making 5 of 8 shots to register 11 points, four rebounds and three assists. In three games against teams ranked No. 2 (Houston), No. 25 (Saint Mary’s) and No. 38 (Georgia) at KenPom.com, the forward averaged 15.6 ppg on 60% shooting, exceeding his season FG percentage (57.7%) while also making 3 of 6 from the 3-point line.

“I think we understand what we can be,” Huff said. “I think we’ve talked about it, we understand the expectations from the coaches this year and we’re excited for the roles that we’re presented for the upcoming season.”

Both members of Gonzaga’s frontcourt duo should both be in the mix for preseason all-conference recognition, and Ike, who turns 23 next month, could be a candidate for various preseason All-American teams.

Nobody was more elated to learn both had decided to return than the man who’ll be feeding them passes next season.

“Extremely happy to have those guys back,” said junior point guard Braeden Smith. “They’re both the best bigs in the country, so being able to play with a talent like them and guys like them, great character, I’m very excited and fortunate.”

Ike and Huff are still in the early phases of their partnership and haven’t had too many opportunities to workshop new ideas, concepts or actions in summer practices up to this point.

“Just trying to sharpen each other’s swords by going against each other,” Ike said. “It’s just great competition between us two, so we know how it’s going to get when we both step on the court at the same time. Obviously we still need to practice and get the reps and the chemistry as well, but right now we’re just trying to sharpen each other’s swords.”

Gonzaga’s late-season switch-up caught Saint Mary’s off guard in the WCC Tournament, but the Zags won’t have the element of surprise on their side when the 2025-26 campaign begins. Teams will have more film on the Huff-Ike lineup and potentially a few counters prepared when they face the Zags.

Handling it still requires the right personnel – Houston, even with its daunting defensive lineup, lacked it at times – and an airtight game plan. The list of teams that have struggled to contain one dynamic Zag forward during Few’s tenure at the school might be in the triple digits. Most haven’t had to deal with two polished post players with Ike and Huff’s touch, feel and footwork.

“Teams are going to be prepared, but playing with a guy that takes up so much attention like Graham makes things easy,” Huff said. “I think it’s a matchup nightmare, I think teams prepare for it but there’s only so much you can do. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Ike considered something else when running through the short- and long-term ramifications of returning to Gonzaga. Transfers who play at multiple schools generally don’t spend enough time on campus to create a legacy at any of them. When he leaves Spokane, Ike could have more than 100 games in under his belt. It was important to the forward that his time at Gonzaga wasn’t viewed as a brief stopover.

“Absolutely, absolutely,” said Ike, who’s already joined the 1,000-point club with his production at Gonzaga and needs just 43 more to reach 2,000 for his career. “I definitely feel like that sometimes, like I have almost two college careers. Three years at Wyoming, three years here. So I’m super extremely grateful, just to be able to be in this position, be able to have this extra time that not many had even five years ago. So just a grateful position to be in.”

There’s still work to be done to ensure Gonzaga’s duo deliver what’s expected of them on paper.

Huff, who came from a Glenbard West High program in the Chicago outskirts that exclusively played zone defense, is still working to make sure he’s not a liability on that end of the floor.

The forward also plans to address his 3-point shooting, which dipped from 33.8% as a redshirt freshman to 28.1% last year. Huff won’t be changing his form or technique, but suggests he needs to shoot the 3-ball with more confidence – “I think just taking the shots and being confident with the results is the biggest thing,” he said.

“I felt really good offensively this season and last year, just continuing to be able to guard multiple people and then on top of that, stretch the floor more, I think get the shooting percentage up,” Huff said. “I think those are the two main things.”

Even marginal improvement from both players could be a frightening proposition for Gonzaga’s opponents next season. The chance of something greater, for a tandem that feels it’s only scratching the surface, is why this felt like an opportunity Ike and Huff couldn’t pass up.

“Me and B-Huff, we made the decision together and just had to come together,” Ike said. “… It felt like it was a no-brainer, just with the roster we wanted to put together, the guys we’d already retained. I felt like it was a no-brainer.”