1-seed Gonzaga (28-3) vs. 4-seed Oregon State (17-15)
MONDAY, MARCH 9 | 6 P.M. PT | LAS VEGAS | ORLEANS ARENA
TELEVISION: ESPN
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE RADIO | LIVE STATS
THE OPENING TIP
– Gonzaga opens the 2026 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Championships in opposition to fourth-seeded Oregon State in the match’s semifinals in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas Monday at 6 p.m.
– The Bulldogs are coming off a 70-59 setback at Saint Mary’s to complete the common season on Feb. 28. Graham Ike had 17 factors for Gonzaga earlier than fouling out with 4 minutes left. Adam Miller scored 14 and Tyon Grant-Foster added 13 for the Bulldogs. Emmanuel Innocenti grabbed 9 rebounds and had 4 assists. The Gaels rallied for his or her twenty sixth straight house win after GU led 36-29 at halftime.
– Gonzaga is the highest seed in the WCC Tournament for the primary time since 2022. Including this 12 months, the Zags have been the highest seed 12 of the 18 instances the match has been in Las Vegas since 2009.
– GU is trying to lengthen its NCAA file with a twenty ninth straight convention championship sport look.
– Ike is eight factors from being solely the 86th participant in NCAA Div. 1 historical past to achieve 2,500 factors in a profession.
– Ike is first in the nation amongst energetic scorers in NCAA Div. 1 with 2,492 factors. His 1,118 rebounds additionally ranks second amongst energetic gamers. He is the one energetic participant with 2,000 factors and 1,000 rebounds.
– Ike set a program file in the trendy period for many consecutive 20-point video games, with 9 straight, ending Wednesday versus Portland with 19 factors (Adam Morrison, 8 video games, 2006; Derek Raivio, 8 video games, 2006; Ike, 7 video games, 2024). Ike is seventeenth in the nation, and first in the WCC, with 13 double-doubles.
– The Zags presently lead the WCC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.87, sixth in NCAA), assists (18.2, fifteenth), bench factors (35.06, 4th), efficient discipline aim proportion (.563, twenty seventh), fast-break factors (14.8, twenty seventh), discipline aim proportion (51.1, seventh), discipline aim proportion protection (39.7, sixteenth), defensive rebounds per sport (28.1, thirteenth), scoring margin (19.7, fifth), scoring offense (86.0, seventeenth), turnover margin (5.0, 4th), and turnovers (9.7, thirtieth). GU tops the nation in factors in the paint at 45.2 per sport, and has outscored its opponents by 342 factors inside-the-arc, which leads the nation. The Bulldogs have additionally made 308 extra photographs from the sector than their opponents. Gonzaga leads the nation in rebound and turnover mixed margin at +414. (Florida 2nd, +395)
– The Bulldogs’ 35 kill photographs, that are 10-0 scoring runs, are the third-most in the nation.
– Eight completely different Zags have led the workforce in scoring in a sport this season. Seven GU gamers have scored at the very least 20 factors in a sport, and 11 have reached double-digit scoring. Six Bulldogs are 1,000-point scorers.
– Head Coach Mark Few returns as a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
– GU has performed seven video games in opposition to groups projected in the NCAA Tournament, going 5-2 in these video games.
– The Bulldogs additionally clinched the eighth undefeated house season in McCarthey Athletic Center historical past (since 2004-05), and the thirteenth in convention play, together with the primary since 2021-22.
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
– Oregon State superior to the West Coast Conference match semifinals with a 78-77 win over San Francisco in Sunday’s quarterfinals. The Beavers trailed 11-0 to begin the sport, earlier than battling again to assert the victory. Dez White completed with 18 factors in his return from harm, pulling down six of his eight 3-point makes an attempt. Josiah Lake II additionally completed with 18 factors, and added seven assists and 4 rebounds. Isaiah Sy tallied 12 factors. As a workforce, the Beavers shot 47.3 p.c from the ground and 45.8 p.c from 3-point vary. OSU out-scored the Dons 37-2 in bench factors.
– Prior to the win over Washington State, the Beavers rallied for an time beyond regulation victory at San Diego final Saturday. Oregon State trailed 59-49 with 1:45 remaining in regulation, earlier than rallying for the 78-76 win.
– Lake II averages a team-high 13.2 factors per sport, with a team-high 134 assists and 46 steals. Sy averages 10.1 factors. White provides 9.9 factors per outing, and has made a team-best 66 three-pointers at 39 p.c.
– Johan Munch averages a team-high 5.2 rebounds.
SERIES INFO
– This is the thirty first all-time assembly between Gonzaga and Oregon State. The Beavers personal a 26-4 benefit in the sequence. After not assembly since 1991, the Pacific Northwest packages separated by 437 miles performed twice final season, splitting the video games.
– In the lone matchup this season, Graham Ike matched his profession excessive with 35 factors and No. 6 Gonzaga picked up an 81-61 highway victory at Oregon State on Feb. 7. Tyon Grant-Foster added 15 factors for the Zags. Isaiah Sy had 13 factors for Oregon State. GU matched a program-low two turnovers in the highway victory.
– The colleges first met on Feb. 20, 1911, a 13-11 Bulldog win in Spokane.
– Prior to Gonzaga’s win final season, Oregon State had gained the earlier 13 matchups, relationship again to a 27-24 GU victory in 1932.
UP NEXT
– With a win, Gonzaga performs in the 2026 Credit Union 1 West Coast Conference Tournament Championships in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas Tuesday at 6 p.m.
– The Zags’ opponent would be the winner of Monday’s second semifinal between second-seeded Saint Mary’s and a workforce to be decided.
VIVA LAS ZAGAS
– Gonzaga is 68-17 all-time in the West Coast Conference Tournament with 22 titles and 31 finals appearances, together with every of the final 28 seasons.
– The Zags are 54-6 beneath Mark Few in the WCC Tournament with title-game appearances in all 26 seasons.
– The Zags are 35-4 in the WCC Tournament since 2009, when the occasion moved to Las Vegas.
– GU’s 4 losses in the occasion in Las Vegas have all been to Saint Mary’s, the 2010, 2012, 2019 and 2024 championship video games.
– The Bulldogs had been 34-13 in the convention match previous to it coming to Vegas.
– The Zags have by no means misplaced a gap sport of the match in Las Vegas, profitable all 17.
– Gonzaga has gained the opening sport of match the previous 28 years, relationship again to a loss in 64-59 in the 1997 quarterfinals to fourth-seeded San Diego as a fifth-seed.
– The Bulldogs are 33-6 in opening video games on the occasion, together with 14-6 in the quarterfinals (9 straight wins).
– Gonzaga has gained in the WCC match semifinals in every of the previous 28 years. The Zags final loss in the WCC semifinals was 1994, 83-75, to San Diego in Santa Clara.
– The Bulldogs are 31-2 in semifinal video games on the match, profitable all 17 in Las Vegas. Gonzaga is 13-4 in the WCC Tournament finals performed in Las Vegas.
– The Bulldogs are 22-9 in championship video games on the match.
IKE ON WOODEN BALLOT
– Graham Ike was named to the 2026 Men’s National
Ballot for the John R. Wooden Award the Los Angeles Athletic Club introduced.
– Selected by the Wooden Award National Advisory
Board, the National Ballot consists of 15 student-athletes who’re candidates for the Wooden Award All
American Team and Wooden Award Trophy as essentially the most
excellent faculty basketball participant.
– Voting will happen from March 16 to March 28,
and voters take into accounts a participant’s total season of play, in addition to the opening rounds of the NCAA
Tournament. The finalists for the 2026 Wooden Award will likely be introduced on April 4.
MAKE THAT NUMBER 27
– Gonzaga has clinched at the very least a share of its twenty seventh West Coast Conference common season title.
– Gonzaga has 27 WCC common season titles, Coach Few has led the Bulldogs to 23 of these first place finishes.
– Since 1997-98, the Bulldogs have both gained or shared 25 of the 29 common season titles, sharing solely 4 (2022-24 with Saint Mary’s, 2015-16 with Saint Mary’s, 2010-11 with Saint Mary’s, 2001-02 with Pepperdine). SMC gained the final two common season titles, together with 2011-12, and Pepperdine took the 1999-2000 title, with Gonzaga second in all these years.
– The Zags shared the title with Santa Clara in 1995-96, and gained it outright in 1993-94, 1997-98, and 1998-99.
BACK AS THE TOP SEED IN VEGAS
– Gonzaga has clinched the highest seed in the West Coast Conference Championships in Las Vegas.
– The prime two seeds in the postseason occasion earn 4 byes to the semifinals on March 9.
– Including this season, Gonzaga has been the highest seed in the WCC Tournament in 12 of the 17 years that the occasion has been in Las Vegas since 2009. The different 5 years, GU has been the second seed.
IKE NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
– Gonzaga’s Graham Ike was named the West Coast Conference Player of the Year.
– The Colorado native turns into the twenty first Bulldog to earn the respect, however the first since 2023.
– The Zags’ Davis Fogle and Mario Saint-Supéry had been each chosen to the convention’s All-Freshman Team.
– All six main particular person awards – together with the All-West Coast Conference Teams and the All-Freshman Team – had been voted on solely by the WCC head coaches.
HUFF AND INNOCENTI ACADEMIC ALL-WCC
– Braden Huff and Emmanuel Innocenti had been named to the West Coast Conference Academic Team. Braeden Smith and Steele Venters had been honorable point out.
– Huff, who acquired the respect for the second straight season, boasts a 3.37 grade level common as a Business Administration main, with a focus in advertising. Innocenti has 3.40 GPA as a Sport Management main.
– Smith is a Philosophy main with a 3.56 GPA, and Venters is a Sport and Athletic Administration graduate pupil with a 3.20 GPA.
HOLLYWOOD BULLDOGS
– The sports activities documentary GONZAGA: THE SLIPPER STILL FITS on Tubi, Fox Corporation’s free ad-supported streaming service, as a part of its unique partnership with Teton Ridge Entertainment, is out now.
– Fans can stream the documentary dwell free of charge solely on Tubi.
– The Tubi Original documentary includes a shut take a look at one in every of faculty basketball’s most spectacular packages, specializing in the perennial Cinderella workforce that has change into a powerhouse.
– The feature-length movie is fueled by GU head coach Mark Few‘s relentless depth and showcases how the Gonzaga Bulldogs flip their underdog gamers into NBA stars. The feature-length documentary additionally traces the historical past of Gonzaga basketball and the college’s dedication to laborious work, loyalty and humility rising from a small faculty program to a nationwide powerhouse.
– GONZAGA: THE SLIPPER STILL FITS consists of interviews with notable Gonzaga alumni energetic in the NBA, together with 2025 NBA Champion Chet Holmgren (OKC), Andrew Nembhard (IND), Jalen Suggs (ORL) and Domantas Sabonis (SAC). Additional featured expertise consists of: Few, former skilled basketball participant and present Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, former skilled basketball participant Adam Morrison and former skilled basketball participant John Stockton.
FEW NAMED FINALIST FOR HALL OF FAME
– For the second straight season, Mark Few is a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
– The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame introduced the choice of Finalists for its Class of 2026 from the next committees: North American, Women’s, Men’s Veterans, Women’s Veterans, International, and Contributors. The finalists will then be put ahead to the Honors Committee to be thought-about for election as members of the Class of 2026. The new class will likely be introduced on April 4.
– There are 20 finalists, with 11 from the North American Committee, together with coaches Gary McKnight, Dick Motta, Doc Rivers, Kelvin Sampson, and Jerry Welsh.
NEARING THE THIRTY-WIN CLUB
– Gonzaga is 2 wins from the 30-win plateau for the ninth time in program historical past, and first since 2022-23.
– GU has reached 30 wins in a season eight instances, all coming in the final 14 years; 32-3 in 2012-13, 35-3
in 2014-15, 37-2 in 2016-17, 32-5 in 2017-18, 33-4 in 2018-19, 31-2 in 2019-20, 31-1 in 2021-22.
– Gonzaga is the one program in NCAA Div. 1 historical past to achieve submit 5 consecutive 30-win seasons, carrying out the feat from 2016-17 to 2021-22.
– GU has completed with 29 wins three earlier instances.
BALANCED BULLDOGS
– Eight completely different Zags have led the workforce in scoring in a sport this season. Seven GU gamers have scored at the very least 20 factors in a sport, and 11 have double-digits.
– Seven completely different Bulldogs have led in rebounds in a sport. Six have grabbed at the very least eight boards.
– Seven Zags common at the very least seven factors per sport.
– Eight GU gamers are taking part in at the very least 18 minutes.
– Six Bulldogs have reached the 1,000-point mark in their careers.
SCORING BREAKDOWN
– Gonzaga tops the nation averaging 32.7 made discipline targets per sport, and is second in second half scoring margin (9.8). The Bulldogs are second in additional scoring possibilities per sport (8.3), and second in proportion of factors from two-pointers (60.6).
– GU has outscored its opponents by 342 factors inside-the-arc, which leads the nation. (Arizona, 2nd, 235)
– The Bulldogs have additionally made 308 extra photographs from the sector than their opponents, that additionally leads NCAA Div. 1, with St. Louis second at 226.
– The Zags’ 35 kill photographs, that are 10-0 scoring runs, are the third-most in the nation. During the WCC video games, GU has lengthy runs of 21-0 (LMU), 18-0 (at Pepperdine), 17-0 (Santa Clara), 16-0 (Portland), 15-0 (Washington State), 12-0 (USF), 10-0 (San Diego, Pepperdine, and at OSU), 9-0 (at Washington State, at Seattle, Saint Mary’s, and at San Francisco), 8-0 (Seattle, at Portland, and at Santa Clara).
– All however seven of GU’s wins have been by double-digits.
GOLDEN GRAHAM
– Graham Ike is first in the nation amongst energetic gamers with 2,492 profession factors. His 1,118 rebounds rank second. No different participant has 2,000 factors and 1,000 rebounds. Tucker DeVries of Indiana is second in factors with 2,400 factors. Notre Dame’s Carson Towt’s 1,351 rebounds are essentially the most for an energetic participant.
– Ike additionally leads the nation with 958 discipline targets made in his profession, and is fifth with 531 made free-throws.
– His 44 profession double-doubles rank third.
– Ike scored at the very least 20 factors in 9 straight, earlier than ending with 19 factors in opposition to Portland, which is the longest streak by a Gonzaga participant beneath Head Coach Mark Few (Adam Morrison, 8 video games, 2006; Derek Raivio, 8 video games, 2006; Ike, 7 video games, 2024).
– Ike leads WCC with three 30-point video games this season, all in the previous 11 video games, matching the whole from his first 131 profession video games.
– His 13 double-doubles this season ranks seventeenth in the nation. He had two video games with 9 rebounds with double-digit scoring. He’s reached double-digit scoring in all however one sport.
– Ike recorded his WCC-leading thirteenth double-double of season in the win at Santa Clara, passing Drew Timme for essentially the most video games with at the very least 20 factors and 10 rebounds (16) by a Gonzaga participant in the final 30 seasons.
– Ike ranks first in the WCC in scoring (19.7), second in rebounding (8.3), and first in discipline aim proportion (.564). In WCC play, he’s first in scoring (21.9), in discipline aim proportion (.613), and second in rebounds (8.2).
– Ike is near being simply the seventeenth Bulldog, and first since 2015-16, to finish a season averaging 20 factors.
– Ike’s 1,714 factors in his three seasons at Gonzaga ranks ninth in program historical past. He is 10 factors from passing Ronny Turiaf for eighth.
– Ike has the perfect participant effectivity ranking (30.3), true capturing proportion (.644), and utilization proportion (29.7) all-time at Gonzaga.
– Ike has 736 rebounds in his three seasons at Gonzaga, simply 21 away from this system’s Top-10.
– His 59.1 discipline aim proportion ranks ninth presently all-time at Gonzaga.
– In the ten video games this season in opposition to Oklahoma (19 pts), Creighton (20), Arizona State (20), Alabama (21), Maryland (13), Kentucky (28), UCLA (25), Oregon (17), Santa Clara (34), and Saint Mary’s (30); Ike has averaged 22.7 factors on 55.9 p.c capturing from the sector. He’s added 8.8 rebounds, 25 assists, 5 blocks, and 5 steals. He made 11-of-23 from three (47.8) and 54-of-65 from the free-throw line (83.1). He has six double-doubles over that 10-game span.
– Ike was named preseason All-American by CBS Sports and ESPN. During his profession he was named First Team All-Mountain West Conference, First Team All-WCC twice, All-District twice, Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Top 10 3 times, Associated Press honorable point out All-American.
BULLDOG BLOCKADE
– Gonzaga’s protection has held seven opponents to their season-lows in scoring this season.
– Against Portland in Spokane on Feb. 25, the Zags held the Pilots to a season-low 48 factors, and compelled Portland right into a season-high 22 turnovers.
– In back-to-back video games, in opposition to Washington State in Spokane, the Cougars had been restricted to season-lows of 53 factors and 21 rebounds. In Corvallis, Oregon State additionally grabbed a season-low 21 rebounds. The Beavers had been restricted to a season-low 43 makes an attempt from the sector, which matched the second-fewest by a GU opponent since 2004. WSU’s 46 discipline aim makes an attempt had been its second-lowest output of the season.
– Seattle additionally dedicated a season-high 18 turnovers in opposition to the Bulldogs on Jan. 17.
– Campbell had a season-high 20 turnovers.
– Kentucky was held to a season-low 26.7 p.c capturing from the sector, with a season-low 16 made photographs from the sector.
– Southern Utah was held to a season-low 50 factors on a season-low 29.5 p.c from the sector, 16 p.c from three (4/25), grabbed a season-low 26 rebounds, and dedicated a season-high 23 turnovers.
– Arizona State was held to a season-low 36.2 p.c capturing from the sector with a season-low 21 makes.
– Oklahoma dedicated a season-high 16 turnovers.
– Texas Southern was held to a season-low 43 factors, with season-lows of 15 makes from the sector and 25.4 p.c capturing, together with 14 p.c from 3 (3/21).
MBB Plays Oregon State in WCC Semifinals Monday
