A Grip on Sports: Gonzaga shined bright Tuesday night but were practically luminescent on defense in the second half

A GRIP ON SPORTS • The Northern Lights were in full glory last night. Even visible in Spokane. Just not in the way one might think.

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• Received a text from a Southern California friend during the Gonzaga basketball game last night. He was relaying news. I presumed it was from his son, who lives near Sandpoint. Wanted to know if I had been outside observing the spectacular Aurora Borealis.

The answer? Negative. I was too busy watching a different type of light show. The 19th-ranked Zags’ 90-63 rout of No. 23 Creighton in the McCarthy Athletic Center.

The Bulldogs were magnetic on defense. The offense seemed powered by solar winds. And the Kennel atmosphere was charged up.

A cosmic show? Well, it’s pretty early in the season but, yes, for one night at least, the 2025-26 version of Gonzaga basketball seemed as powerful as a solar flare. And it was Greg McDermott’s squad, picked by the league’s coaches to finish third in the Big East, that was burned.

Toasted, if you will, in a second-half display of dominating defense – Creighton hit just 7-of-25 shots after intermission and turned the ball over 12 times – that keyed a couldn’t-miss offense – the Zags missed just 15 times in 34 attempts, with 28 of their 46 points in the paint, including 18 off the Jays’ turnovers.

Their effort elicited an equal and opposite reaction from the Bluejays.

“The second half was just a nightmare,” McDermott said. “We were soft offensively and that carried over to what we were doing on the defensive end.”

A result that was due to, in large part, the Zags’ ability this season to apply pressure with their defense as well as their always-efficient offense.

Tuesday night’s romp can be shrugged off if you want. It’s early. The Bluejays are in the middle of a rebuild, trying to integrate a handful of key transfers into McDermott’s demanding system. And trying to replace the hard-to-replace talents of dominating 7-foot-1 center Ryan Kalkbrenner. Traveling cross-country in mid-November to play in the madhouse that is the Kennel might not have been the best decision.

Then again, the home team entered the season with similar new-look roster issues – doesn’t everyone these days? – and seemed to have figured them out pretty quickly.

Two games into what seems a wide-open college hoops season, Gonzaga is second in Ken Pomeroy’s analytic ratings system, displaying its usual top-10 offensive efficiency – ninth, actually – but also in the rarified air of a fifth-place rating in the corresponding defensive category. The other schools that are in the top-10 in both after the season’s first couple challenges? Duke and Kentucky.

The difference last night? The home crowd, sure. And how well Graham Ike played. While the Jays try to fill their Kalkbrenner-sized hole in the middle with 6-11 Iowa transfer Owen Freeman – overmatched in this one with two points and three rebounds in 15 minutes – the Zags can rely on the 6-9 Ike, experienced in college basketball – he scored his 2,000th-career point in the early going – while also being well-versed in what Mark Few expects.

And sporting a new weapon, an accurate 3-point shot. At least it was Tuesday, and his three top-of-the-key makes in the first few minutes destroyed Creighton’s defensive plan of sagging off Ike (and Braden Huff) to clog the paint.

Still, with Adam Miller hesitant offensively, and Tyon Grant-Foster out of sorts, the Zags seemed a step slow until the second half. When the lights came on for those final 20 minutes, though, everyone sparkled on the defensive end – triggering an impossible-to-match offensive display.

In one second-half stretch, the Zags forced turnover after turnover, run-out after run-out and put the game away with a 21-0 dash.

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WSU: Many college football pundits rate coaching success based on how well a team plays after halftime. After the visit to the locker room and the adjustments. If that’s the case, then the Cougars’ Jimmy Rogers won’t be receiving any awards this season. After all, as Greg Woods points out in his story this morning, Washington State has been dismal after halftime this season. And downright bad – minus-40 in scoring differential – in the fourth quarter. But as Greg points out, it’s not just coaching adjustments that go into such numbers. It’s also depth. Health. Size. All of which the Cougs are usually on the short end. … Greg also has two football recruiting stories today. (It never ends, does it?) Two high school offensive players – a lineman and a receiver – told the world Tuesday they are headed to Pullman. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, the latest College Football Playoff non-counting rankings were released last night. Jon Wilner covered the usual. Some teams moved up. Others moved down. And still others stayed put. Maybe I should save those sentences for the next few weeks. … There is coaching buzz each week as well. … Wilner also looks at the Big 12’s media strategy and how Notre Dame vs. Pitt this week impacts the western schools. … A Colorado receiver is putting up great numbers.

• Here are the rest of the (current, old and future) Pac-12 games this week, with the latest Associated Press rankings and listed chronologically. All are on Saturday unless noted. The schedule below also includes any game in which finding news turned out to be nearly impossible.

– Minnesota at No. 7 Oregon (Friday, 6 p.m., Fox): The Ducks moved up a notch in the CFP rankings.

– Arizona at Cincinnati (9 a.m., FS1): The Wildcats expect their toughest test yet with the Bearcats.

– Oregon State at Tulsa (10, ESPN+): Here is another name to consider for the open head coaching position. Kevin Cummings. He’s an alum.

– West Virginia at Arizona State (10, TNT): The Sun Devils have a new special teams coordinator.

– Colorado State at New Mexico (Noon, Mountain West): It has been a while since New Mexico has topped the Rams.

– Iowa at No. 17 USC (12:30 p.m., Fox): Lincoln Riley is right. Every Big Ten official is wrong. His masterful fake punt was legal. If you don’t believe me, Riley will set you straight.

– Texas State at Southern Mississippi (12:30, ESPN+): There were a lot of fights during and after games last week.

– No. 15 Utah at Baylor (4, ESPN2): If they win out, will the Utes be in the Big 12 title game? Not necessarily.

– Purdue at Washington (4, FS1): There is a simple way for Jedd Fisch to let everyone in Seattle know he wants to stick around. … The Huskies are beat up. Badly. But will it matter this week?

– Utah State at UNLV (4, CBS Sports): A transfer offensive lineman has become a leader for the Rebels.

– UCLA at No. 1 Ohio State (4:30, NBC): There is little resembling tradition in college football these days.

– Boise State at San Diego State (7:30, CBS Sports): A walk-on Bronco quarterback will get his chance to show his talents this week. … The Aztecs have struggled with BSU lately. So has the rest of the MWC.

– Wyoming at Fresno State (7:30, FS1)

• In basketball news, the Oregon men play South Dakota State tonight but the Ducks will do it without one of their guards who is serving a three-game NCAA suspension. … Oregon State’s fast start has earned some recognition. … Colorado is struggling some on defense. … Arizona had no struggle with Northern Arizona. … One Boise State player is showing quite a bit of improvement. … Colorado State’s fans are more invested in basketball right now. … Utah State is set to host in-state foe Weber State. … The Oregon women blitzed Grand Canyon at home last night. … Colorado is on the road at No. 22 Louisville. … Utah handled visiting Utah Valley.

Gonzaga: The coverage from McCarthey starts with Theo Lawson’s game analysis. But that’s not where it ends. Jim Meehan’s three takeaways include a look at Ike’s big night. And he also has a story on the Bulldogs’ two point guards and their combined 19-point, 10-assist, six-rebound and five-steals performance. … Tyler Tjomsland has this in-depth photo gallery from the blowout. … Before the game, Jim and Richard Fox sat down for another edition of the Zags Insiders Podcast. You can listen here if you want. … Elsewhere in the WCC, Saint Mary’s men blitzed visiting Ohio.

Idaho: With another playoff appearance out of the equation, Peter Harriman takes some time this morning to highlight two defensive linemen, senior captain Zach Krotzer and redshirt sophomore Matyus McLain, both from Inland Northwest high schools. Krotzer played his high school football for Shadle Park, McLain for Priest River. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Michael Ray Richardson was a spectacular star for Montana while I was in college. And shone bright in the NBA until drug addiction destroyed his career. The eight-year NBA veteran died of prostate cancer Tuesday. He was 70. … The Griz handled host UNLV with ease Tuesday behind Money Williams’ 30 points. … UC Santa Barbara handed host Sacramento State its first loss. … The Idaho State women snapped Grand Canyon’s 20-game home winning streak last Saturday. … Some of the success second-ranked Montana’s football program is enjoying this season has been built on turnover margin. … Weber State’s decision to fire Mickey Mental is big news around the conference. … No. 9 UC Davis finishes up the road part of the conference schedule this week with the challenging trip to Bozeman.

Preps: It’s a big week for volleyball, with the State tournaments for a few levels on tap. Madison McCord has a preview of the 2B and 1B ones, which start today in Yakima. … Dave Nichols’ roundup of Tuesday’s action includes District 6 play for 4A and 3A schools, as well as soccer results.

Mariners: The M’s needed bullpen help down the stretch and in the playoffs last season. They seemed a left-hander and maybe another high-leverage arm short. Will they fill that hole through a free-agent signing? … There are lots of free agents available, as always. Three of the top 22 in this Athletic rating were M’s at the end of last season. … Dan Wilson did not win the A.L. Manager of the Year award. We also do not think Cal Raleigh will be named the A.L.’s MVP. … Seattle lost one of its longtime assistant general managers. … It’s winter meeting time and starting pitchers are on the trading block.… The players and owners seem to be talking about management’s desire for a salary cap. And we don’t mean in a Bryce Harper-yells-at-the-commissioner sort of way.

Seahawks: Ernest Jones IV may be back this week as the Hawks charge towards the playoffs.

Kraken: The injury-riddled offense has been stagnant. It was almost non-existent last night in a 2-1 home shootout loss to Columbus.

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• We never did see the Northern Lights last night. By the time Gonzaga finished and I stepped outside it was so foggy at our house the neighbor’s back porch light was almost invisible. Lights in the sky? Forget about it. Until later …