Gonzaga’s Graham Ike named West Coast Conference Player of the Year
Graham Ike captured his first West Coast Conference regular-season championship last week and can now add WCC Player of the Year to his growing list of accolades.
The senior forward became the first Zag to earn WCC Player of the Year honors since All-American Drew Timme split the award with Santa Clara’s Brandin Podziemski in 2022-23. In Gonzaga’s final WCC season, Ike became the 21st Zag to earn the league’s top individual honor and the 18th to do so under longtime coach Mark Few.
Ike, who averaged 19.7 points to lead the WCC in scoring, along with 8.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists, was also named to the All-WCC First Team for the third time in as many years.
The senior was the only Gonzaga player recognized on the 10-player First Team. The Zags, who played much of the WCC season without second-leading scorer Braden Huff and have dealt with a recent injury to wing Jalen Warley, also didn’t have anyone selected to the five-player Second Team or anyone named All-WCC Honorable Mention.
Gonzaga’s Davis Fogle and Mario Saint-Supery accounted for two of the six spots on the All-WCC Freshman Team.
Fogle thrived with increased minutes in WCC play, averaging 8.9 ppg in conference games while shooting 51.8% from the field. He’s scored in double figures 10 times this season, with a career-high 19 points against Southern Utah.
Saint-Supery has gone between the starting lineup and the bench during his freshman season, but was started the team’s last five regular-season games. The Malaga, Spain, native is averaging 8.4 ppg and 3.6 apg. He’s made a team-best 40 3-pointers and leads the Zags shooting 44% from behind the arc.
Santa Clara, which won 24 games to match the third-highest total in school history, captured three of the six individual awards with Herb Sendek winning WCC Coach of the Year and forward Allen Graves taking home both Sixth Man of the Year and Freshman of the Year.
Seattle U forward Will Heimbrodt is WCC Defensive Player of the Year while San Francisco forward David Fuchs, a transfer from Rhode Island, rounded out the individual awards, winning Newcomer of the Year.
Saint Mary’s and Santa Clara, which enter the WCC Tournament with the second and third seeds, each placed three players on the First Team. The Gaels’ trio included guard Joshua Dent, forward Paulius Murauskas and guard Mikey Lewis, while the Broncos were represented by wing Elijah Mahi, guard Christian Hammond and Graves.
The First Team also featured Portland guard Joel Foxwell, Oregon State guard Josiah Lake II and Pacific wing Elias Ralph.
San Francisco had three of the five Second Team selections, with guard Ryan Beasley, wing Tyrone Riley IV and forward David Fuch each earning nods. The other Second Team choices were Washington State guard Ace Glass and Seattle U guard Brayden Maldonado.
Eight other players were named All-WCC Honorable Mention: LMU’s Myron Amey Jr., Jalen Shelley and Rodney Brown Jr. Pepperdine’s Aaron Clark, WSU’s ND Okafor, Oregon State’s Isaiah Sy, Pacific’s TJ Wainwright and Seattle U’s Junseok Yeo.
A Gonzaga transfer, Yeo averaged 11.9 ppg and 3.9 rpg in his first season with the Redhawks.
Accompanying Fogle and Saint-Supery on the Freshman Team were Foxwell, Glass, Graves and Saint Mary’s wing Dillan Shaw.
The All-WCC awards are voted on solely by the conference’s 12 coaches.