‘Love Island’ fever has swept America … and a large portion of Gonzaga’s basketball team: ‘We’ve been tapped in’

Without the academic responsibilities, social opportunities and NIL obligations that typically arrive in August with the beginning of a new semester, Gonzaga basketball players are able to kick back and decompress during summer months in ways they can’t the rest of the year.

“Getting out on the lake with the team has been great,” point guard Braeden Smith said, “but honestly just spending time outside (the gym), whether that’s video games, watching the (NBA) Finals.”

Nothing too out of the ordinary for a group of 18- to 24-year-old college students.

Other than one somewhat surprising revelation.

“Some of the guys watch ‘Love Island’ together,” Smith said.

The wildly popular American reality show has hooked billions of viewers, and the overwhelming majority of Mark Few’s roster, since its seventh season debuted in early June.

“Everybody, low-key like maybe 10 guys on the team are probably all the way caught up,” said Graham Ike, Gonzaga’s all-conference forward and top returning scorer. “Me, B-Huff (Braden Huff) and Q (Joaquim ArauzMoore), we’re caught up right now. We’re having a good time, it’s helping us decompress, get a little bit of balance outside of hoop during the summer, find something to do with our time.”

The television series, which has aired on streaming platform Peacock since season No. 4, is a spinoff of a British show with the same name and films a group of contestants who live together in an isolated villa. “Love Island USA” contestants couple up and compete in various challenges all while trying to avoid elimination by a public fan vote. At the end of the season, the winning couple receives a cash prize of $100,000.

A recent New York Times article characterized the series as the “pop culture obsession of the summer.”

“We’ve been tuned in,” Huff said. “We’re like three episodes behind, but that’s been the big locker room topic recently.”

According to Nielsen, “Love Island” is most appealing to 18- to 34-year-olds, drawing more than half of its viewership from the demographic. In the past, the show has attracted a decidedly female audience, but growing interest from other demographics suggests it’s starting to catch on with other swaths of the country.

Including, but not limited to, a group of Division I men’s basketball players keen on keeping up with the weekly drama and controversy that occurs inside the “villa.”

“It’s a different speed for us, for sure,” Huff said. “We’re bored after a day of practices, we’re looking for something to watch. Kind of tried that out. We knew a lot of people are watching it throughout the country, so we’ve been tapped in ever since. It kind of grabbed a hold of our attention.”

Gonzaga players aren’t too prideful to publicly acknowledge their interest in the show.

“Yeah, I am part of that crew,” senior wing Steele Venters said. “It’s been fun to talk about the season. … I guess it’s just like the drama, we like watching the drama. I know, it’s pretty funny.”

“I just started tuning in, man. I started tuning in three days ago,” freshman center Parker Jefferson said. “I’m catching up. All the fellas, they’ve been on it.”

Most of them, at least. Sophomore center Ismaila Diagne isn’t wrapped up in the show and Smith hasn’t taken a liking to it the way many of his teammates have.

“I’m not huge on it,” the point guard laughed. “But that’s just something some of the guys do. … I know they’re tapped in.”