Gonzaga’s Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard named to Naismith Midseason Team
On Thursday night, Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard were Gonzaga’s top scorer, each contributing 18 points to a 88-77 win over San Francisco that catapulted the Zags into second place in the West Coast Conference.
On Friday morning, Gonzaga’s standout seniors were two of the 30 players selected to the Naismith Trophy Men’s Player of the Year Midseason Team.
Gonzaga was one of five schools with multiple players on the midseason team, joining Iowa State, Rutgers, Tennessee and Purdue.
Ike, who had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Nembhard, with 18 points and 12 assists, represented two of Gonzaga’s three double-doubles in the team’s third straight victory.
A senior forward, Ike is averaging team highs in scoring (17.1 points per game) and rebounding (7.3 rebounds per game) while pacing the WCC with a field goal percentage of 59% in all games and 60% in conference games.
Ike has scored at least 20 points on 11 occasions this season, setting his season-high with 28 points during a 90-89 overtime loss to Kentucky at Climate Pledge Arena.
Nembhard, who recently broke his own school single-season assists record, is nearly averaging a double-double for Gonzaga, scoring 11.3 points per game to go along with 9.9 assists per game.
The Ontario native has had 15 double-digit assist games this season, with a season-high 15 coming during a 103-99 overtime loss to Santa Clara. After Thursday’s game, Nembhard now has 258 assists this season and only needs 26 more to tie the WCC record by former Saint Mary’s guard Emmett Naar.
Others on the Naismith Midseason Team include Duke’s Cooper Flagg, Iowa State’s Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones, Memphis’ PJ Haggerty, Rutgers’ Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, Auburn’s Johni Broome, Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr., New Mexico’s Donovan Dent, Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson, Villanova’s Eric Dixon, Louisville’s Chucky Hepburn, Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis, Texas’ Tre Johnson, Marquette’s Kam Jones, Creighton’s Ryan Kalkbrenner, Connecticut’s Alex Karaban, Purdue’s Braden Smith and Trey Kaufman-Renn, Tennessee’s Chaz Lanier and Zakai Zeigler, St. Johns’ RJ Luis Jr., Maryland’s Deriq Queen, Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud, Alabama’s Mark Sears, West Virginia’s Javon Small, Wisconsin’s John Tonje and Michigan’s Danny Wolf.