MBB Hosts Oregon State for First Time Since 1990

Gonzaga (15-6, 6-2 WCC) vs. Oregon State (16-6, 6-3 WCC)
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 | 8 P.M. | McCARTHEY ATHLETIC CENTER | SPOKANE
TELEVISION: ESPN2
LIVE VIDEO | LIVE RADIO | LIVE STATS
 
THE OPENING TIP
– Gonzaga welcomes Oregon State to the McCarthey Athletic Center for the first time Tuesday at 8 p.m. It’s the first time the Beavers have played the Bulldogs in Spokane since a 74-65 OSU win on Jan. 7, 1990.
– Gonzaga is coming off a dominant 105-62 win at Portland Saturday. Ben Gregg went 10-for-10 from the field, the most makes without a miss in the Mark Few era, finishing with a game-high 24 points. The Zags finished with 31 assists, one off the program record set in 1980. Michael Ajayi added 20 points.
– Ryan Nembhard’s 208 assists are first in the nation, to only 47 turnovers. Nembhard’s 9.9 assists per game also tops the country. His 4.40 assist-to-turnover ratio is third.
– As a team, Gonzaga is first in the nation in assists per game at 19.9 and assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.97.
– The Zags and No. 1 Auburn are the only two programs in the nation with six players, that have appeared in at least 10 games, averaging double-digit scoring.
– GU is second in the country averaging 89.2 points per game, fifth in free-throw percentage (80.0), and sixth in field goal percentage (50.0). GU averages 16.0 made free throws per game, which leads the West Coast Conference.
– Khalif Battle is 10th in the nation from the line at 92.3 percent (1st in WCC). He made 50 straight free throws before missing which ranks second in program history (Derek Raivio, 56)
– Graham Ike (59 percent) and Braden Huff (56.8 percent) are first and second in the WCC in field goal percentage.
– Graham Ike is fourth in the West Coast Conference averaging 18.6 points per league game, while shooting 60.4 percent from the field, which ranks third in the league. He is fourth grabbing eight rebounds per conference game.
– Graham Ike was named Midseason Third Team All-American by Sporting News, and Ryan Nembhard was named to the Wooden Award Top 25 Midseason Watch List.
– Mark Few was recently named a first-time nominee for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
SCOUTING THE BEAVERS
– Oregon State is coming off an 83-69 win at home over Santa Clara Saturday. Michael Rataj set a career-high with 30 points for the Beavers. Damarco Minor had 10 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three steals. Nate Kingz tallied 16 points, while Liutauras Lelevicius added 10.
– OSU is shooting 52.7 percent from the floor over its last eight games, and 57.4 percent over it’s last two games.
– Oregon State went 21-for-22 from the free throw stripe on Saturday, two weeks after going 31-for-32 from the line at Pacific.
– The Beavers are 10th in the nation in field goal percentage (49.8), ninth in free throw percentage (79.1).
– Rataj is third in the WCC averaging 18 points per game, second grabbing eight rebounds, and third shooting 50.4 percent from the field.
– Kingz (12.2), Parsa Fallah (12.2), and Minor (10.0) all average double-digit scoring as well. Minor dishes out a team-high 5.4 assists per outing.
 
SERIES INFO
– This is the 29th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Oregon State. The Beavers own a 26-2 advantage in the series.
– After not meeting since 1991, the Pacific Northwest programs separated by 437 miles played in Corvallis in the first meeting this season on Jan. 16. OSU held off No. 16 Gonzaga in overtime, 97-89. Graham Ike had 26 points and nine rebounds to lead five Zags in double-digits. Ben Gregg added 15 points and 13 rebounds, while Ryan Nembhard had 13 points and 10 assists.
– The schools first met on Feb. 20, 1911, a 13-11 Bulldog win in Spokane.
– Oregon State has won the last 13 matchups, dating back to a 27-24 GU victory in 1932.
– The Beavers have won eight of the nine all-time meetings in Spokane, and all 14 in Corvallis.
 
UP NEXT
– The 117th all-time meeting between Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s. The Bulldogs lead the series 81-35, winning 26 of the last 33 meetings.
– Gonzaga is 57-15 against SMC under Mark Few.
– The Bulldogs are 27-20 all-time at Saint Mary’s.
– Saint Mary’s won the last matchup, 69-60, in the 2024 West Coast Conference Tournament Championship in Las Vegas. Anton Watson led the No. 17 Zags with 18 points. Ryan Nembhard finished with 13 points and 11 assists, and Graham Ike had 10 points. Mitchell Saxen had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the No. 21 Gaels.
– In last season’s meeting in Moraga, Graham Ike scored 24 points and No. 23 Gonzaga handed No. 17 Saint Mary’s its first conference loss of the season in the regular season finale. Ryan Nembhard added 20 points and 10 assists, while Ben Gregg scored 12.
– In last season’s meeting in Spokane, Aidan Mahaney scored 20 points and SMC rallied late to beat GU 64-62. Ryan Nembhard had 18 points on 7-for-13 shooting to lead the Bulldogs, while Graham Ike had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
– Gonzaga is 37-11 all-time at home against SMC.
– The Bulldogs won the first all-time meeting between the programs, 94-77, in Spokane in 1955.
– The Zags are 18-4 against SMC in the WCC Tournament, winning eight of the last 10 meetings in the event. The teams have met in the tournament 13 of the past 15 years.
 
BULLDOG BALANCE
– Gonzaga and No. 1 Auburn are the only two programs in the nation with six players, that have appeared in at least 10 games, averaging double-digit scoring.
– Five different Zags have been the high-scorer in a game this season, while four have led in rebounds.
– The Bulldogs have had six players in double-figures three times this season, five players in double-digits seven times, four players seven times, and three players five times.
– Four Zags have scored 20 points in a game this season, and eight have multiple 20-point games in their careers.
 
THE GREGGACY
– Ben Gregg went 10-for-10 from the field, finishing with a game-high 24 points, to lead Gonzaga to a dominant 105-62 win at Portland.
– Gregg’s 10 made shots from the field were the most without a miss in the Mark Few era.
– Gregg became just the ninth player in conference history to have 10 made shots from the field without a miss.
– Gregg made all four of his three-pointers and added six rebounds in 20 minutes.
– He tops the WCC shooting 71.6 percent from inside-the-arc. The senior is also first in the conference shooting 68.8 percent from the field in league games.
 
EVERYTHING CAME UP ROSES
– Gonzaga finished with 31 assists in the win at Portland, one off the program record set in 1980.
– Five Zags had double-digit scoring, with two at eight points.
– Michael Ajayi scored a season-high 20 points on 7-of-10 from the field, along with a game-high eight rebounds.
– Gonzaga finished 62.7 percent from the field as a team, including 12-of-22 from three-point range.
– GU controlled the paint, outscoring the Pilots 58-22 and outrebounding the host team 37-29.
 
SPEAKING OFFENSIVELY
– GU is first in the nation in assists per game at 19.9 and assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.97.
– The Zags are second in the country averaging 89.2 points per game and sixth in field goal percentage (50.0).
– Gonzaga is averaging 92.5 points in its WCC games. It would be the most points averaged in conference play since Loyola Marymount scored 97.8 points per game in 1991.
 
THE POINT GOD
– Ryan Nembhard’s 9.9 assists per game tops the nation.
– The nation’s leader in assists became the first player in the country to eclipse the 200-assist mark this season, now at 207. He was the first in NCAA Div. 1 to 100 assists and the fastest to 100 assists in a season in program history.
– His 4.40 assist-to-turnover ratio is third in the country.
– Currently second in the WCC at 35:06 minutes per game.
– In Saturday’s win at Portland, Nembhard dished out 14 assists to one turnover.
– Nembhard currently leads the WCC averaging 9.6 assists per league game. The conference record is 9.2 set by Orlando Smart of USF in 1991.
– The Canadian native is third in the country among active leaders in career assists with 745. Dajuan Harris Jr. of Kansas leads at 786. Nembhard’s 6.15 assist career average is fourth among active leaders, and his 2.53 assist to turnover is fifth.
– The program career record is 712 set by Josh Perkins, Nembhard’s two-year Gonzaga total of 450 assists ranks seventh in GU’s all-time Top 10.
– Nembhard finished with a career-high and single game tournament record 14 assists against Davidson in the Battle 4 Atlantis. He totaled 39 assists in the three-game event, setting a new tournament record, to just eight turnovers.
 
SEATTLE’S BEST
– Nolan Hickman is 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) from behind-the-arc over the last four games.
– He is shooting a West Coast Conference best 49 percent (24-of-49) from three-point range in league play.
– The Seattle native also leads the WCC averaging 3.0 made threes per conference game.
– He is making a career-high 46 percent from three this season, at a career-best 2.5 made threes per game.
– The senior’s 52 made threes rank second in the WCC.
 
GOLDEN GRAHAM
– Graham Ike was named Midseason third team All-American by the Sporting News.
– He leads the WCC in field goal percentage (59.0).
– The senior is fourth in the West Coast Conference in scoring in league games (18.6), fourth in rebounds (8.0), and third in field goal percentage (60.4).
– He has four 20-point games over the last six games, nine this season, and 40 in his career.
– Ike pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds in the victory over San Diego on Jan. 8.
– The 19 rebounds were a new McCarthey Athletic Center record, topping Drew Timme’s 17 against Kent State in 2022.
– The 19 rebounds were the third-most under Mark Few, and the most since Domantas Sabonis’s 20 at Pacific in 2016. Josh Heytvelt had 22 at Pepperdine in 2007.
– Ike’s 19 rebounds were the second-most by a player in the West Coast Conference this season. San Diego’s Sam Trouet had 20 against UC-San Diego on Dec. 21.
– It matched the third-most by a WCC player since 2020-21, and sixth-most in the past 10 seasons.
– Ike’s 13 made free-throws was one shy of tying the McCarthey Athletic Center record for most makes in a single game. He finished 13-of-15 from the line versus USD.