TV take: Graham Ike gives punctual performance in tardy Zags-Gaels showdown
There are a few things one can count on when ESPN broadcasts the West Coast Conference’s annual Gonzaga/Saint Mary’s showdown in Spokane.
The game will start late. There is a great chance the first few minutes, or more, will come into your home via ESPN News, not the scheduled flagship.
And, most importantly, Sean Farnham will add his usual spot-on analysis, usually a day after he’s spent the night at the Davenport, eating shrimp flatbread, and raising money for cancer research.
All those items were in play Saturday night, especially with about seven minutes of game time on the preceding Tennessee win over visiting Auburn at 7:30.
Turns out, they all came true, except one. The game began on ESPNU.
And what a game it was, with the Zags (22-1, 9-0 in the WCC) playing near-perfect after halftime, and the back-from-injury Graham Ike’s 30-point, four-rebound performance that was too much for the 19-4, 8-2 Gaels, winning 73-65 in McCarthey Athletic Center.
A game accompanied by a near-perfect presentation from ESPN veterans Dave Flemming and Farnham, the duo whose first call in the Spokane part of this rivalry came in 2011.
In a rivalry that, as Flemming said right off the tip, “always matters.”
What they saw …
• Just about everything. As per usual.
Farnham highlighted the Zag transition game – keyed lately, he said, by their injury-fueled smaller lineup – early that allowed them to run out to a 19-9 lead.
“If you don’t get back in transition, you have no chance to beat the Zags,” is how he put it.
Of course, when the Gaels crawled back ahead, he pointed out how the converse is also true. Saint Mary’s slowed Gonzaga down, made it half-court game, forced nine turnovers and got to the free-throw line.
The latter continued in the second half. The former? The first GU turnover after intermission came with 3:36 left.
“They have executed (in the second half),” Farnham said about the Zags – just seconds before Ike kicked the ball out of bounds.
He also pointed out the defense on Saint Mary’s point guard Joshua Dent – a quiet 16 points with four turnovers – in the second half, with Emmanuel Innocenti doing most of the work, while adding 10 key second-half points.
• But the night, as Flemming said more than once, belonged to Ike.
The post had never defeated Saint Mary;s in the building, a point he shared with the duo pregame and they shared often with their audience.
He made 11 of his 20 shots. Hit 3-of-5 3-pointers. Fouled out Harry Wessels and made life miserable for every Gael around the rim. All after missing games with an ankle injury.
“Ike was just not going to lose this game,” Flemming said as the super senior finished off his performance with a block of Dent. “A monstrous performance by him.”
What we saw …
• The best part of having Flemming and Farnham in the Kennel once again? They know their history of the Saint Mary’s games. And aren’t hesitant to pull out the files, throughout the game. As did the folks in the truck, with graphics, video and audio that stretched back through the years.
But will end soon.
“The other undertone to the rivalry tonight is the Zags are leaving the WCC at the end of this year, so, at least for a while, this may be the last time Saint Mary’s plays on this floor,” Flemming said.
“You note that and you say, ‘you know, they might play each other in an out of conference game,’” Farnham added, saying he’s seen it with Arizona and UCLA. “It’s different. It’s not the same.”
“It isn’t,” Flemming interjected.
“It’s a relevant game. It’s a good game. But this game matters for a conference championship,” Farnham continued. “This game matters for the conference tournament. This game matters for the NCAA Tournament. All those components make it deep and rich. And we’re losing those in some of the realignment moves we’ve seen.”
• The close to final touch? It came with 3-minutes, 51-seconds remaining and the Bulldogs leading by 10.
“I just want to take in the atmosphere,” Farnham said as the TV showed the Kennel crowd celebrating the comeback victory. “I’m going to miss coming up here with you partner,” he added.