‘Very worthy’ walk-on Noah Haaland helps lift Gonzaga in latest West Coast Conference win | Rewind

The depth and balance on Gonzaga’s roster suggested an assortment of players would probably make an impact for Mark Few’s team this season.

Even then, it would’ve been hard to predict this trio of Zags showing up to the postgame podium after a West Coast Conference game: senior guard Adam Miller, freshman wing Davis Fogle and walk-on forward Noah Haaland.

It speaks to Gonzaga’s depth, yes, but also to the lengths Few’s team has had to go since losing frontcourt starters Graham Ike and Braden Huff to injury last week.

“Listen, we talked about the depth and we’ve needed the depth now,” Few said. “Now you’re getting to see some guys.”

In our latest rewind, we take an in-depth look at what Haaland and Fogle did specifically to help the Zags survive their second game without Ike or Huff and cruise to an 84-60 victory over Pepperdine.

All in on Haaland

Haaland’s first double-digit scoring game might have been a surprise to the 6,000 in attendance, but not to the 20-25 players, coaches and support staff members on Gonzaga’s bench.

“To be honest with you, he’s been doing that the last two years,” Few said. “He’s very worth of getting his time. He’s just playing behind two All-Americans. Very, very worthy. This isn’t an out-of-body experience, this is kind of what we’ve been seeing every day in practice and we have confidence in him. I think the players have confidence in him. I assume we’ll see a lot more of him.”

The preferred walk-on from Rathdrum moved up a couple spots in the rotation on Saturday against Seattle U, spelling starting center Ismaila Diagne for four minutes.

With Ike sidelined again Wednesday, Haaland was in line for more floor time. After a short conversation with assistant Brian Michaelson on the bench, he subbed in with just under five minutes remaining in the first half.

Haaland received extended minutes after the break, entering at the 13-minute, 22-second mark. Seven seconds after checking into the game, Haaland was skying for an offensive rebound and converting a putback that pushed Gonzaga’s lead to 62-37.

There were two other such sequences for Haaland in the second half. His third and final putback with 18 seconds left made him the fifth Gonzaga player in double figures with 10 points. The redshirt senior finished 4 of 4 from the field and 2 of 2 from the free throw line while pulling down four rebounds to share game “MVP” honors with Fogle.

“Noah’s amazing, man,” Miller said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who don’t always get the shine on nights, like Q (Joaquim ArauzMoore) or Cade (Orness), some guys won’t get in there. But this team doesn’t run without those guys. So just kudos to him for being ready for the moment and we wouldn’t be as good without those guys, without Noah.

“I’m happy for him that he has a good game today and with us as long as he’s been with us and for the future. We can’t do this without him.”

Haaland attended Classical Christian Academy in Coeur d’Alene, but played high school basketball at Lakeland, earning All-4A Inland Empire League honors as a junior and senior. The son of former Gonzaga basketball player Dale Haaland and ex-Zag volleyball player Robyn Benson, Haaland spent two seasons playing junior college basketball at Allan Hancock in California before accepting a preferred walk-on spot at his parents’ alma mater in 2024-25.

Haaland logged a career-high 11 minutes on Wednesday, one more than he played all of last season, and said advice from a former Gonzaga standout helped him stay engaged the past few seasons as a member of the Zags’ scout team.

“I think the main thing, I kind of got it from David Stockton,” Haaland said. “I talked to him briefly before last year, is taking all the reps even in practice – even the scout-team reps – very seriously. Playing hard and treating it like a game. Obviously knowing when to back off so nobody gets hurt or anything like that before games, but that I think has been the most important thing, is not just sitting back into that role of being a scout-team player the whole year and really taking advantage of the time being able to play with these really high-level guys has helped me improve so much.”

Freshmen fitting in

Point guard Mario Saint-Supery has been Gonzaga’s top scorer with 32 points over the last two games. Not far behind is fellow freshman Fogle, who’s at 30 points through two games after totaling a game-high 17 against Pepperdine.

The wing from Anacortes is now Gonzaga’s sixth-leading scorer on the season averaging 7.1 points despite ranking 10th in minutes at 10.4 mpg.

Fogle logged 24 minutes against Seattle, 26 against Pepperdine and should see more opportunities moving forward as the Zags look for ways to replace the 36 ppg they were getting from Huff and Ike.

“He was good, he was very aggressive,” Few said. “I really liked that play where he dumped down to Noah there at the end. I think he needs to continue to work on his playmaking as well as his scoring. Then obviously, he’s one of our bigger guys so he’s got to step up and do a little better job on the glass.”

Fogle’s scoring ability has been clear from the jump. He scored 11 points in 10 minutes off the bench in Gonzaga’s season opener, then had 19 points in 15 minutes during a 72-point rout of Southern Utah.

The four-star prospect is challenging himself in other areas as he continues to watch his role expand. Fogle had career highs in rebounds (six) and steals (three) against Seattle U before delivering a career-high four assists against Pepperdine.

“I would say just try to do all the little things,” Fogle said. “Rebounding, staying solid on defense and when I need to score, score, and just impacting the game in any way I can.”