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Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga forward Graham Ike earns second USBWA Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week honor

Gonzaga forward Graham Ike drives to the hoop against Santa Clara forward Allen Graves during a WCC game on Saturday at Leavey Center in Santa Clara, Calif. (Tyler Tjomsland / The Spokesman-Review)
By Theo Lawson theol@spokesman.com(509) 459-5584

Mark Few was adamant Graham Ike’s play in recent weeks warranted more national attention and perhaps an All-American honor or two at the end of the season.

Time will tell if Ike is recognized with the best players in the country, but the Gonzaga forward was selected as one of the top performers of the week Tuesday, being named an Oscar Robertson Men’s Basketball National Player of the Week by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

It’s the second time Ike’s been honored by the USBWA this season and comes just a day after the sixth-year senior earned his fifth West Coast Conference Player of the Week honor.

The other four players to earn the national award this week were Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr., Wisconsin’s Nick Boyd, Central Connecticut’s Darin Smith Jr. and Texas Tech’s JT Toppin.

Ike leads the WCC at 19.2 points per game and has averaged 26.7 over Gonzaga’s last seven. The forward from Aurora, Colorado, is second in the league at 8.7 rebounds per game and ranks 13th in the nation with 12 double-doubles.

Ike is coming off a 21-point, 15-rebound performance in Gonzaga’s 94-86 win over Santa Clara on Saturday at the Leavey Center. He has scored at least 20 points in seven straight games and would match Derek Raivio and Adam Morrison by hitting that figure for the eighth time on Wednesday against San Francisco.