The list of All-Americans and future NBA players Graham Ike has gone up against over the course of his four-year college basketball career is extensive.
During his two seasons at Gonzaga alone, the 6-foot-9 Aurora, Colorado, native has battled the likes of former UConn standout Donovan Clingan, Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson and Purdue’s National Player of the Year, Zach Edey — twice. Ike went toe-to-toe with San Diego State’s Jaedon LeDee and has tussled with Saint Mary’s big man Mitchell Saxen on a few occasions. In his first game wearing a Bulldogs uniform, he had to contend with former Yale and current Michigan standout Danny Wolf, a 7-footer whose guard-like skills will likely earn him a spot on an NBA roster one day.
For Ike, competing against the best at his position and playing in high-profile games was part of the allure of transferring to Gonzaga after two seasons at Wyoming. The Zags operate at a top-10 level and have been in the national conversation year after year under head coach Mark Few. Coming off a foot injury he suffered his sophomore year, Ike saw the chance to join the Bulldogs as a way to build himself up physically as well as mentally.
What he didn’t foresee, however, was a 6-foot-10, 250-pound redshirt freshman by the name of Braden Huff. Specifically, his ability to put the ball in the basket.
“He was the first person that made me not get upset when I got scored on,” Ike said of Huff after Gonzaga beat San Diego in Spokane. “Because I used to get super upset, like it’s not supposed to happen. But he’s just so damn good. His ball goes in, so it’s tough to get upset.”
After duking it out against each other in practice all summer, Ike and Huff have worked together to create quite the formidable frontcourt tandem for Few and company to lean on. Ike paces the Zags at 16.3 points, with Huff at 11.5 points per game off the bench. Though they haven’t shared the floor much as opposed to working in shifts, both have adapted to fit one another’s play style for when they’ll need to play alongside each other in the frontcourt at the same time.
“We got to play together for the first time in life this summer, just building our chemistry and whatnot,” Ike said of Huff. “And just working off each other, trying to feel like, ‘Ok, if he’s high, I’ll go low,’ and vice versa. Knowing when to run the floor, knowing when to go grab that rebound, knowing when to let him pop and when to duck in.”
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