Analysis: No. 9 Gonzaga navigates frontcourt injuries, comes up with ‘spectacular’ response in 71-50 win over Seattle U

SEATTLE – Mark Few and lead assistant Brian Michaelson have navigated just about every situation under the sun during their shared years at Gonzaga.

Nothing like this week, though.

What set up as a routine two-game road swing against Washington State and Seattle U took its first turn on Wednesday, when junior forward Braden Huff hurt his left knee in practice back home in Spokane, sidelining the junior forward four to eight weeks.

Gonzaga would’ve preferred the unexpected twists stop there, but roughly 24 hours later as the Zags were closing out a 21-point win over Washington State, top scorer Graham Ike landed awkwardly while contesting a shot. Pain in Ike’s right ankle worsened overnight and the senior was eventually ruled out of Saturday’s game against Seattle U.

It might require a fact-check, but Few and Michaelson couldn’t immediately recall another time where Gonzaga lost multiple All-American candidates – the two front-runners for WCC Player of the Year honors – to injuries in consecutive days.

It was much easier to find the words to describe the Zags’ response in a 71-50 victory over a Redhawks team that had taken them to overtime weeks earlier in Spokane.

“It was spectacular, I’m just so proud of these guys,” Few said. “Just when you think Thursday tops everything with going in such shorthanded. To lose the caliber of guys we’ve lost, that’s never happened and for the guys to respond and play that kind of defense and we eventually figured it out on offense.”

The Zags solved every problem they needed to despite playing without two forwards who’d been averaging nearly 36 points per game and accounted for five West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors this season.

“We’ve had some really good responses in the history of this program and thinking back on them, but this is up there,” Michaelson said. “B-Huff’s loss is obviously huge, we had to deal with that, go down to Pullman, have kind of a new style of play but still have the big fella (Ike) that we ran everything through and he was unbelievable. You’re kind of thinking there’s our reinvention and then unfortunately you wake up yesterday and you really start to get the wheels spinning.”

It signified the 12th straight victory for Gonzaga, which is off to the fifth-best start in program history at 19-1 overall and 7-0 in WCC play. The Zags also moved into first place in the WCC standings, jumping previously unbeaten Saint Mary’s, which took its first conference loss against Santa Clara earlier Saturday evening.

Gonzaga had to deliver on a number of fronts without their frontcourt stars.

Mario Saint-Supery led the charge on offense, scoring a game-high and career-high 20 points while making 7 of 10 shots from the field and 4 of 6 from the 3-point line.

Ismaila Diagne anchored Gonzaga’s defense, making his first start in place of Ike. Diagne walled up to prevent Seattle U from scoring inside and came up with seven of his eight rebounds in the first half.

Jalen Warley, in vintage Warley fashion, was exceptional in almost every facet. The 6-foot-7 senior wing guarded players at five different positions, including a successful second-half stint on 7-foot Seattle U center Austin Maurer as the Zags were pulling away from the Redhawks. Warley’s final line: 14 points, six rebounds, four assists, four steals.

“I think we kind of said with smaller lineups, we just had to embrace it,” Warley said. “Just causing chaos. We knew since we already played them one time at the Kennel, kind of knew some of their sets and their guys’ tendencies. Just really trying to make them do something that’s not their strong suit and hang our hat on defense. I feel like we did a great job, every guy that came in setting the tone defensively and we kind of carried it on offense and carried throughout the game.”

Warley wasn’t exaggerating on the final part.

Davis Fogle came off the bench to score 13 points on 6 of 9 shooting and hauled down six rebounds. Tyon Grant-Foster came off the bench to score nine points and tally nine rebounds. Emmanuel Innocenti had seven points to go with four rebounds. The Zags even called on walk-on forward Noah Haaland for a stint in the first half to break up Diagne’s WCC-high 20 minutes.

“Obviously it was terrible to see those two guys go down, but they were just preaching we’ve got to figure it out and all the fans say, ‘Zags got dudes,’” Fogle said. “We all can play, we all can hoop so we just came in confident. We were going to come in punching and I think that’s what we’ve done.”

Gonzaga was dominant on the glass against a Seattle U team that outrebounded them 41-40 in the first meeting between the teams. Few’s team had a 44-24 advantage in total rebounds Saturday and 13-6 advantage on the offensive glass, scoring 14 total second-chance points.

Seattle U won the opening tip and went at Diagne on the first possession. The sophomore held up strong against fellow 7-footer Maurer, forcing a missed jump hook before grabbing the defensive rebound. Diagne, making his first career start, blocked Maurer’s layup attempt a few possessions later and held up in the first half before encountering foul trouble in the second.

Sparked by Saint-Supery’s perimeter shooting, the Zags went on an extended 16-4 run midway through the second half to pull away from the Redhawks, who were limited to 26 points after the break. Seattle finished shooting just 19 of 53 (35%), 5 of 21 (23.8%) from the 3-point line and committed 18 turnovers.

Brayden Maldonado led the Redhawks with 12 points, but made just 5 of 12 shots from the field and went 1 of 7 from the 3-point line.

Gonzaga (19-1, 6-0) resumes WCC play next Wednesday against Pepperdine (6-14, 1-6) at McCarthey Athletic Center. The Zags beat the Waves 96-56 on Dec. 28 in Malibu for their 50th consecutive victory in the all-time series between the schools.