Graham Ike’s off night at the forefront of Gonzaga’s offensive issues in UConn loss

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Dec. 15—NEW YORK CITY — Determined to shake off a slow first half against Connecticut, Graham Ike returned to the court at halftime to warm up his shot. The forward retrieved a basketball, planted himself a few feet from the hoop and starting working through his portfolio of low-post moves.

Short jump hooks. Push shots. Turnaround jumpers. Mid-range shots off the glass.

In no particular order, four consecutive practice shots either clipped the front rim, ricocheted off the back iron or hit some combination of the backboard and rim before dropping to the floor. A visibly frustrated Ike kept at it until Gonzaga players were called back into a huddle to start the second half.

Things didn’t improve once live defenders returned to the frame.

Ike traveled on Gonzaga’s first possession coming out of halftime, committed two fouls on the defensive end and then missed a two-footer in the painted area where he’s normally as close to a sure thing as you can get. The forward’s opening second-half shift ended a few minutes later, and perhaps not soon enough.

A bleak night from Ike was far from the only reason Gonzaga struggled to generate offense in the second half of a 77-71 loss to UConn. He was on the bench when the Zags went 3 minutes, 25 seconds without manufacturing a field goal to close the game, scoring just one point — on a Khalif Battle free throw — during that stretch.

But, on a night when the Zags scored a season-low 71 points, and made just 39% of their 2-point attempts in the second half, it was understandably hard to ignore the three points next to Ike’s name on the final stat sheet.

The player who led Gonzaga in preseason accolades, and paced the Bulldogs in scoring (15.6 ppg) entering Saturday’s high-level nonconference test against UConn, matched his lowest point total in a Gonzaga uniform, making 1 of 3 shots from the field in a game that saw him commit more turnovers (4) and fouls (4) than he had points (3).

Ike also scored three points in last season’s win over…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/graham-ikes-off-night-forefront-030400884.html

Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.

Publish date : 2024-12-16 03:04:00

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