Top-seeded Gonzaga hoping to take ‘next jump’ in WCC semifinal against fourth-seeded Oregon State

LAS VEGAS – Mark Few hopes his current roster took more than history lessons from a team gathering last week to watch a private screening of the documentary, “Gonzaga: The Slipper Still Fits,” that premiered Friday on streaming service Tubi.

“There was some powerful messaging in there,” the Gonzaga coach said. “Obviously not every one of these seasons went smooth. Just like this team, there’s a lot of adversity you’ve got to fight through. When you do, usually good things happen. There was a lot of ammo for that messaging.

“That being said, also what you take out of that documentary is just those were all great seasons and we’re in the middle of a great season. We’re 28-3 and we’ve dealt with more adversity than I can ever remember dealing with in a year.”

Top-seeded Gonzaga (28-3) hopes adversity takes a back seat to winning in the coming weeks as Few’s team opens its 39th and final West Coast Conference Tournament with Monday’s 6 p.m. semifinal against fourth-seeded Oregon State (17-15) at Orleans Arena.

In recent years, Gonzaga could almost count on facing San Francisco on semifinal Monday, matching up with the Dons every season since 2020-21. The tradition looked like it might hold during the early stages of Sunday’s quarterfinal, with USF going up 11-0 on OSU inside the first six minutes.

In what could’ve been their final game under longtime coach Wayne Tinkle – the Ferris High graduate who was fired by OSU on Feb. 26, but permitted to coach through the remainder of the season – the Beavers stormed back, trimming the deficit to two points at halftime before outplaying the Dons in the second half of a 78-77 victory.

Now it’ll be two future Pac-12 opponents playing for a spot in Tuesday’s championship game. The Zags have appeared in every WCC title game since 1998 and have won 22 championships.

In Monday’s second semifinal matchup, second-seeded Saint Mary’s (27-4) will play third-seeded Santa Clara (24-7) in a game tipping off at 8:30 p.m. (ESPN).

Gonzaga’s all-time record against OSU is just 2-12, but the scales have tipped in favor of the Zags since the Beavers joined the WCC as affiliate members last season. Tinkle’s team pulled off a stunning upset of Few’s last season, beating Gonzaga 89-87 in overtime, but the Zags have won convincingly in the two games since.

That includes their only meeting this season – an 81-61 victory in Corvallis that saw Graham Ike, recently named WCC Player of the Year, score 35 points three days after the Zags took a crushing Quad 3 loss at Portland.

The Zags finished with a massive advantage in the paint (50-10), controlled the rebounding column (30-21) and limited the Beavers to nine field goals inside the 3-point line.

“It’s going to take a yeoman’s effort tomorrow, we’ve got to do a much better job of actually following the plan,” Tinkle said of facing Gonzaga. “We didn’t against them the first time, we let Ike go nuts. We’re going to enjoy this for a little bit then we know we’ve got a really tough challenge against a talented team tomorrow.”

Possibly not a full Gonzaga team, though.

Jalen Warley missed consecutive games with a quad contusion and the wing’s status is uncertain heading into the conference tournament. Warley, who suffered the injury on Feb. 4 at Portland, was on the floor three days later against OSU, but only played 17 minutes. The senior hasn’t played more than 23 minutes in any game since the injury occurred.

Warley or no Warley, the Beavers still face a monumental challenge with Ike, who’s averaged 27.6 points in three career meetings with Tinkle’s team. In last month’s game, the senior made 13 of 18 shots from the field and pulled down seven rebounds. Ike scored 26 points and hit a game-tying 3-pointer at the end of regulation to send last year’s game at Gill Coliseum to overtime.

“Our ball screen coverage was horrendous and they really exploited us,” Tinkle said of the 81-61 loss to Gonzaga on Feb. 7. “We missed trips when we were supposed to trap, switches when we were supposed to switch. They were just short rolling (Ike) to the nail and he was picking us apart. Getting back to the way we’re supposed to guard those things and mixing it up a little bit. Doubles when he got it on the block and we were supposed to monster, but never did.

“Just getting our guys a little more dialed in to the game plan that we have to try to limit his impact and try to make other guys maybe have to step up.”

The Zags are trying to rinse the taste of a 70-59 loss to Saint Mary’s in the regular-season finale. Ike, who’s been GU’s leading scorer in nine straight games, said watching the Tubi documentary offered perspective on what it will take in order for the Zags to reach many of their long-term goals.

“Making that next jump, taking that next jump,” Ike said. “Every team that has been where we want to go takes that next jump right now. There’s always more we can do and we understand that. We’re hitting more film, getting in more shots, more team time on and off the court. Just fully immersing ourselves in the process more than we already have before.”

As they were before the first Gonzaga matchup, the Beavers are still led in scoring by guard Josiah Lake II, who averages 13.1 points per game but was limited to eight on 3 of 8 shooting by the Zags. Wing Isaiah Sy and guard Dez White combined for 25 points.

Lake II and White both had 18 points for the Beavers in Sunday’s quarterfinal win.