Analysis: Bench helps No. 7 Gonzaga erase early deficit, speed off on extended run to beat LMU 82-47

Seventeen games into the season, it can be difficult to distinguish between Gonzaga’s starting lineup and bench unit. The seventh-ranked Zags haven’t been so concerned about who’s in the first five, as long as they get to the right five throughout the course of the game.

Mark Few shook up the starting lineup for the eighth time this season and it wasn’t much of a surprise when a five-man group mostly consisting of bench players turned the corner for Gonzaga after a rough start against Loyola Marymount.

Starting forward Braden Huff and four subs – Adam Miller, Tyon Grant-Foster, Mario Saint-Supery and Jalen Warley – were on the floor when the Zags erased a 10-point deficit and sparked a 15-0 run, giving GU a lead it didn’t relinquish in Sunday’s 82-47 runaway victory against LMU.

“This is not a five-man group,” Few said. “I think I’ve talked ad nauseam about our balance and our depth and all that. So we’re never, ever going to get to a five-man group, it’s just not going to happen.

“So we’ve just got to try and get them in there and see who’s on tonight and who isn’t, then go from there and try to reward some of these dudes who’ve played well in these games and the previous game and in practice, so they all stay hungry and happy.”

One of the players rewarded Sunday was freshman wing Davis Fogle, who made his first career start against LMU, becoming the 10th different player to start for the Zags this season.

When things started to go south for Gonzaga, Few made nearly a full line change at the first media timeout, replacing the quartet of Fogle, Braeden Smith, Steele Venters and Graham Ike with Miller, Grant-Foster, Saint-Supery and Warley.

Grant-Foster tossed down an alley-oop dunk on Gonzaga’s first possession out of the break, but the Lions scored on their next three trips down to establish a 14-4 lead. Gonzaga made slight headway on the offensive end, but much more of it on defense after Rick Issanza converted inside with 13 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the half.

After Issanza’s shot, the Lions went cold for nearly nine minutes, failing to score again until Rodney Brown Jr.’s jumper with just under five minutes left in the half. LMU finished the frame making just two of its final 20 shots from the field and scored just five points over a stretch that lasted 12 minutes, 36 seconds.

Three of the players who sparked the Zags during the game’s most important stretch all explained their vantage point of a 27-5 run to close the half and ultimately seal the win.

“I think it just started with energy,” Warley said. “We really tried to bring that spark with the second unit and execute the game plan that we work on. I think that energy boost kind of carried the wave and we never really looked back after that.”

“I think what Jalen said, we tried to get onto the court with a lot of energy and do the things we had to do,” Saint-Supery said. “Just play basketball.”

“Yeah, just trying to come into the game and muck it up and do whatever was possible to kind of get it a little bit more grimy in there,” Miller said. “I think we kind of picked up full court and just pressured those guys. That’s kind of what helped us out.”

From the point when LMU went up 14-4, Gonzaga closed the game on a 78-33 run. The Lions were scoreless for 8 minutes, 53 seconds in the first half and followed with an 8-minute, 5-second drought in the second.

Both teams were sluggish on offense in the first half, but Gonzaga recovered in the second to finish 36 of 67 from the field. The Zags were 1 of 9 from the 3-point line to start, but steadily improved there, too, finishing 6 of 20. Matters mostly got worse for LMU, which finished the game shooting 19 of 63 from the field and 6 of 23 from the 3-point line.

Gonzaga’s starters accounted for 29 points, but nine bench players combined to add 53 more.

Four Zags finished in double figures, led by Graham Ike, who had 16 points on 7 of 12 from the field and pulled down seven rebounds. Saint-Supery (13 points), Warley (12) and Miller (11) also reached double digits for GU, combining to go 15 of 20 from the field. Warley matched Ike for the team lead in rebounds with seven.

Braden Huff, Gonzaga’s leading scorer on the season, failed to score in double figures for the first time in 19 games, since a 2025 WCC tournament semifinal win over San Francisco. Huff had eight points but did grab a game-high nine rebounds, matching his career high.

After wrapping up a stretch of four games in eight days, Gonzaga (16-1, 4-0) gets a three-day break before returning to the court Thursday to host Santa Clara (13-4, 4-0). The Zags and Broncos are just two of three unbeaten teams in conference play. Santa Clara won its fourth straight WCC game on Sunday, beating San Diego 98-70.