No. 9 Gonzaga buries Portland 89-48 to claim share of WCC regular-season title, clinch No. 1 seed | Analysis

Parked on top of a ladder with a Nike headband stretched over his West Coast Conference champions cap, Adam Miller used a variety of techniques as he attempted to clip off a piece of the net.

“It ain’t coming loose,” Miller shouted.

After a minute of troubleshooting, tips from the crowd that had gathered around the basket and assistance from an arena worker, the Gonzaga senior made two solid cuts and finally pulled his nylon souvenir off the rim.

Miller chalked it up to rust. It had been five years since the guard won a Big Ten regular-season championship and trimmed the net during his freshman season at Illinois. Depending how things play out for the ninth-ranked Zags, it’s possible he’ll get more practice in the coming weeks.

“Full-circle moment, I’m happy to be able to do it my last year,” Miller said. “I hadn’t had a lot (of practice), so I’m happy to be doing this after however many years that was.”

Miller’s brief mishap with the net may have been the only adversity Gonzaga encountered Wednesday night in one of its most convincing efforts of the season. The Zags buried Portland 89-48 to claim a share of the WCC regular-season championship and secure the No. 1 seed at the conference tournament.

Not quite as significant but still meaningful: Gonzaga avenged a seven-point loss to the same Pilots team three weeks earlier and clinched the eighth unbeaten home season since McCarthey Athletic Center opened in 2004.

In their final regular-season game as a WCC member, the Zags (28-2, 16-1) can claim an outright league title with a win over longtime nemesis Saint Mary’s (25-2, 14-1) on Saturday in Moraga (7:30 p.m., ESPN). The Gaels hosted Santa Clara in a game that tipped off after 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

All three teams were still eligible to win a share of the WCC title before Wednesday’s games started, but the Zags were the only ones in position to lock up a coveted No. 1 WCC tourney seed.

“It’s great, I think it’s great for the guys to take a moment, celebrate,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said on the court as his players took turns going up and down the ladder. “I think it’s good to remind our fans these things don’t magically happen, you have to earn them and you shouldn’t take it for granted.”

The Zags should know. They came up short each of the last two seasons, conceding consecutive WCC regular-season titles to Saint Mary’s. Senior forward Graham Ike had never won a regular-season league title and played as if he knew exactly what was on the line Wednesday night.

Ike controlled three statistical categories, but most impressive were the forward’s seven steals, which tied the Gonzaga record under Few and keyed everything the Zags did on the defensive end against Portland.

After scoring 19 points and hauling down eight rebounds, Ike checked out of the game with five minutes remaining to a rousing ovation and chants of “Ike! Ike! Ike!” from the Kennel Club.

“It was an eventful day, it was a great day,” Ike said. “Most importantly on our Senior Night, I’m glad we could get the dub. That’s really what mattered to me, this team. Clinching the league championship in season, it’s the first time we’ve done it in my years here, which is pretty special. But the most important thing was the dub.”

Aside from a six- or seven-minute stretch in the first half, that never looked like it would be in serious doubt against a Portland team that spoiled Gonzaga’s chances of a perfect WCC season three weeks ago at the Chiles Center.

Similar to the first meeting, point guard Joel Foxwell spurred an early Portland run, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers and delivering two more points after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt.

Thankfully for Gonzaga, the rest of the game played out much differently.

The Pilots took a 15-12 lead at the 14-minute, 10-second mark, but Ike followed with a 3-pointer at the other end – one of three for him on the night – and the Zags took control of the game when they held the visitors scoreless for 7 minutes, 22 seconds, and kept them without a field goal for 8 minutes, 14 seconds.

“Way more energetic, way more forceful, especially on the defensive end,” Few said, asked to explain the differences between the two Portland games. “Then opportunistic obviously with our steals and deflections and creating turnovers. Just got great efforts across the board on the defensive side of things.”

Defense allowed Gonzaga to build an early lead and 3-point shooting helped the Zags pull away in the second half, establishing a game-high 43-point advantage down the stretch.

Gonzaga forced Portland into 15 first-half turnovers and a season-high 22 in the game. Three weeks after approaching the 90-point mark against the Zags, the Pilots made just 16 of 47 shots from the field and 4 of 19 from the 3-point line.

Gonzaga matched its season high for 3s, finishing 14 of 36 (38.9%) from distance against a defense that was designed to pack the paint and give the Zags free looks from behind the arc.

The Zags got contributions from both point guards as Braeden Smith finished with 15 points and Mario Saint-Supery added 12. Senior wing Tyon Grant-Foster joined the double-digit scoring club, adding 12 points of his own.

Foxwell orchestrated the early scoring flurry for the Pilots, but finished with only 12 points on 4 of 12 shooting after torching Gonzaga for 27 in the first meeting.