Gonzaga’s Graham Ike reaps the benefits of offseason workout program

Players typically make their biggest improvements in the offseason with dedicated work on their games and their bodies.

Graham Ike didn’t have a chance to do the latter after transferring from Wyoming, where he missed the 2023 season due to a foot injury, to Gonzaga.

Ike, who committed in April 2023, was limited in workouts until mid-October. It didn’t prevent him from having a solid season with the Zags, averaging 16.5 points and 7.4 rebounds while earning All-West Coast Conference first-team honors.

This offseason?

“Night-and-day difference,” Ike said. “I couldn’t even really workout until mid- or late October. This was a great offseason, from April to really now, honestly. I’m just constantly working on my body, my mind, my game and working with these guys, getting more connected on both sides of the floor and it’s translating.”

In other words, he’s a graduate of the Travis Knight school of offseason workouts that all GU players attend. Knight, Gonzaga’s strength and conditioning coach, has been working with the Zags for years with impressive results.

“Love that school,” Ike said after Gonzaga’s 109-52 exhibition rout over Warner Pacific on Wednesday.

Knight’s lesson plans included “the VersaClimber, lots of heavy rope stuff, pullies, lot of jump rope,” Ike said. “Things like that to where it’s not too heavy on the body.”

The 6-foot-9, 250-pound redshirt senior forward hasn’t had to play big minutes in GU’s two exhibition games, but that figures to change when the sixth-ranked Zags take on No. 8 Baylor in the season opener Monday at the Arena.

Ike had 11 points and eight rebounds in nearly 16 minutes. He averaged 24.1 minutes per game last season. He logged 31.6 minutes per outing in 2022 as a sophomore with the Cowboys.

Ike elected not to have surgery at Wyoming on the stress reaction in his right foot and went through a deliberate, measured approach to rehabilitate his foot.

Head coach Mark Few suggested that Ike is probably in the best shape of his life, and Ike agreed.

“He’s in a lot better shape than he’s been in the past,” Few said. “He trusts his body more, trusts everybody around him more. You come off a couple of those injuries like that and you’re a little gun shy. He’s definitely not that. He’s definitely comfortable.”

Ike and the Zags face a huge challenge in their opener.

The Zags’ center will likely matchup against Miami transfer Norchad Omier, a All-ACC first-team selection last season.

“It allows me to move quicker, more diligently, with more intention,” Ike said of the on-court benefits from his offseason workouts. “And then my body isn’t paying for it as much the next day.”