Gonzaga’s depth, elite frontcourt duo both on display during Kraziness in Kennel event

It was news to Braden Huff Saturday night the junior forward now holds the two highest-scoring performances at Kraziness in the Kennel, a preseason intrasquad scrimmage that’s been held every year since 2009.

Huff had a scrimmage-record 19 points two years ago, followed by nine points last year and 17 more on Saturday, matching point guard Josh Perkins (2015) for the second-most ever scored by a single player.

“I wasn’t (aware), 13 is a lot of shots in 18, 19 minutes,” Huff said. “A lot of them were easy buckets where the guards were putting me in good positions or Graham (Ike) was finding me in the high-low.”

Something that shouldn’t be news to anyone entering Gonzaga’s 2025-26 season: Huff and his counterpart, Ike, will likely form one of the nation’s top frontcourt tandems and reinforced that much to a sold-out McCarthey Athletic Center crowd at Kraziness.

Huff led all scorers and Ike approached double-double territory with eight points and a Kraziness-record 11 rebounds in the 20-minute scrimmage that was held near the end of Saturday’s festivities.

Another positive takeaway from this year’s showcase, perhaps underscoring the depth Gonzaga’s roster possesses in 2025-26: The production Huff and Ike had playing on the same “White” team still wasn’t enough to overcome a balanced effort from the “Blue” squad, which rallied late to pull off a 41-39 victory.

“A lot of depth, I don’t think a lot of separation with the exception of probably those two bigs,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. “But guys competing really, really hard. I think we’ve been pretty good through this fall camp and today it kind of showed, really showing our physicality and I think a little bit of our athleticism at the wing spots.”

Some of the wing athleticism Gonzaga added is courtesy of former Grand Canyon standout Tyon Grant-Foster, who’s spent the better of six months in limbo, uncertain if he’d be able to suit up for the Zags while the NCAA reviews his competitive eligibility waiver.

Though the NCAA still hasn’t completed that process, the 25-year-old was recently cleared to train with the Zags, moving up to Spokane earlier in the week and going through two practice sessions before urging coaches to let him play in Saturday’s scrimmage.

Grant-Foster started alongside Huff and Ike on the “White” team and was still getting his legs underneath him as the graduate transfer finished scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting with two assists and one turnover in 14 minutes. “White” was able to find shooting elsewhere as veteran wing Steele Venters, who’s coming off consecutive ACL and Achilles’ injuries, cashed in three times from behind the arc to finish with nine points.

Another transfer, Arizona State’s Adam Miller, had 13 points on 3 of 6 from the 3-point line, leading “Blue” in that category, while former Florida State and Virginia wing Jalen Warley had nine points and three rebounds. Freshman Davis Fogle was another standout for “Blue,” totaling seven points in his Kraziness debut. Braeden Smith, a Colgate transfer who could start at point guard, had just four points but five assists, two turnovers and one steal.

“In practice, every drill’s competitive and down to the wire so I think that was on display today and it’s very fortunate for us to have that,” Smith said. “It can go to anybody and we feel comfortable with who’s out there on the floor, so it was good.”

Venters walked out with perhaps the widest grin of any Zag on Saturday evening. About 20 minutes before his outside shooting display in the scrimmage, the former Eastern Washington standout edged Miller to win the 3-point contest. Venters made 19 3s the final round, clipping Miller by two makes. Those two advanced to the finals after beating Huff and freshman guard Mario Saint-Supery in the opening round.

The schedule of events at Kraziness mostly mimicked that of past years, with a couple new elements and twists.

Before players were introduced, Gonzaga cheerleaders transported roughly 20 of the program’s NCAA Tournament and West Coast Conference trophies onto the hardwood. ESPN’s Sean Farnham, who played the role of emcee for the second straight year, eventually introduced Few, who walked down a set of bleacher stairs and conducted a brief interview at center court, surrounded by the hardware.

“When I got here 37 years ago, you used to be able to come at game time and get a great seat,” Few said. “Now we’ve got people waiting in line three hours for a scrimmage in October.”

The only blemish on the event may have been a late injury to junior forward Emmanuel Innocenti, who left the court holding his left hip. Few didn’t have an update on Innocenti immediately after the scrimmage.

“No, he’s in there right now,” Few said.