After Portland upset, Gonzaga guarantees improved effort against Oregon State: ‘It won’t happen again’

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Gonzaga’s next road test never projected as a game Mark Few’s team would overlook. Not against an Oregon State team that snatched a 97-89 overtime victory the last time Gonzaga visited Gill Coliseum.

Wednesday’s 87-80 loss at Portland – one of the most shocking results of the Few era – may have guaranteed the Zags won’t overlook anybody else for the remainder of the season, regardless of opponent.

“(Portland) did a great job last night,” senior forward Graham Ike said on Wednesday, roughly 10 minutes after the Pilots completed one of the most surprising upsets of the college basketball season. “I can promise it won’t happen again.”

If a team ranked No. 216 at KenPom can spring an upset of the sixth-ranked Zags, everyone else on GU’s schedule probably feels better about the chances of doing so moving forward.

Including Oregon State, which owns a 26-3 advantage in the all-time series against Gonzaga and accounted for one of four WCC losses for Few’s program last season when it upset the Zags in a high-scoring, late-night affair at Gill Coliseum. Ike knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer to send the game into overtime, but the Beavers controlled the extra period and OSU students stormed the court when the game went final just after 10:30 p.m.

Saturday’s matinee tipoff between Gonzaga (22-2, 10-1) and Oregon State (13-12, 6-6) is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Corvallis. KHQ will air the only regular-season meeting between the Zags and Beavers. The network’s broadcast team will be calling the game remotely from Pac-12 production studios in San Ramon, California, as KHQ continues on-site coverage of Super Bowl LX in the Bay Area.

Gonzaga’s now in damage control mode as it enters the second game of its Oregon road trip, needing a win Saturday to guarantee it stays within a half-game of Santa Clara in the WCC standings. The Broncos currently own a half-game lead as a result of playing one more game, but the Zags have the head-to-head tiebreaker after beating Santa Clara 89-77 in Spokane.

Every game feels dire for Gonzaga moving forward, but Few is focused on fixing the individual issues that led to breakdowns during Wednesday’s game at Portland. It starts on the defensive end, where the Zags had been magnificent for five games before conceding 87 points and 59.3% shooting to a Portland team that had made better than 50% of its shots in just one other WCC game, against Santa Clara (58.6%).

The first 10-15 minutes of games have often been a feeling-out process for Gonzaga to determine which five to seven players are most likely to impact a specific game. Even with junior forward Braden Huff (left knee) sidelined, the Zags have used 10 players in recent games, but coaches often pare the rotation down to five, six or possibly seven in the second half.

Gonzaga shuffled through different groups of players multiple times on Wednesday, but struggled to generate any defensive rhythm. The Zags pride themselves on “kill shots,” or getting three stops in a row. Against Portland, it was more common to see the Pilots score on three straight trips down the floor. During one first-half stretch, Shantay Legans’ team produced points on six straight possessions.

“It’s hard to find any consistency on the defensive end, let’s start with that,” Few said. “It was really hard, we got some real, real inconsistent efforts from some guys. There were probably some guys who didn’t bring what they’re supposed to bring. If everybody just does their jobs and bring what they bring, we’ve been pretty darn good this year. When they deviate from that and not bring what they’re supposed to bring, then it really exposes us.”

With Huff still away from the team as he goes through physical therapy to recover from his injury, the Zags will continue to mix and match hoping to find some semblance of continuity.

Ike’s offensive production hasn’t wavered and the senior enters Saturday’s game having averaged 27.7 points in his last four outings. Ike scored 49 total points on 19 of 26 shooting in two games against Oregon State last season.

The Beavers lost all five starters to high-major programs last offseason and have just one player averaging double figures, with two others knocking on the door. Returning guard Josiah Lake II is averaging 13.5 points while transfer guard Dez White and forward Isaiah Sy average 9.6 apiece.

OSU’s top three scorers are all capable 3-point shooters, too, and each make better than 36.7% from behind the arc, with Lake and White each making 37%.

The Beavers were solid on their home floor last season, finishing with a 15-3 record, and they improved to 10-4 this season at Gill Coliseum after Wednesday’s 74-64 win over Washington State.