Theo Lawson

It might take another college basketball player four years to undergo the range of experiences and emotional swings Graham Ike packaged into Gonzaga’s past four games.

Gonzaga players may not have been around for a decades-long run of futility against Oregon State – a stretch where the Bulldogs accumulated just two victories compared to 25 losses over 80 years – but all were on hand 12 days ago in Corvallis when the Beavers erased a late six-point deficit and rallied for an upset win in overtime, sending hundreds of zealous students onto the hardwood floor at Gill Coliseum.

Over the last two weeks, Gonzaga players and coaches have used a variety of words to characterize recent performances that haven’t matched up to the program’s lofty standards.

After Oregon State hung 97 points on Gonzaga during an overtime victory two weeks ago at Gill Coliseum, there probably isn’t a matchup the Bulldogs can afford to ignore Tuesday evening when the teams meet again at McCarthey Athletic Center.

A resounding road win against Portland wasn’t enough to push Gonzaga back into the Associated Press Top 25, but the 105-62 victory helped the Bulldogs make up some of the ground they’d lost in the NCAA’s NET rankings after consecutive losses in West Coast Conference play.

A group of photograph hunters and autograph seekers assembled inside a hallway at the Chiles Center, picking off Gonzaga players one by one as they made their way to the team bus after a 105-62 victory over Portland on Saturday night.

We debuted our “Four Out” series last January, with Gonzaga facing somewhat of an identity crisis coming off an upset loss to Santa Clara, having just dropped out of the AP Top 25 and entering a crucial stretch of West Coast Conference games that would determine the team’s NCAA Tournament fate.

Nearly a full page of Gonzaga’s media guide is devoted to games where the Bulldogs have reached one of college basketball’s elusive milestones.