In reflection mode, Graham Ike recaps Gonzaga's 2025-26 season, looks ahead to pro career

Graham Ike was recently finishing a workout at Gonzaga's student recreation center when a handful of teammates gathered at one of the facility's full-sized basketball courts for a pickup game.

They already had nine takers and tried to recruit Ike, who would've made 10 for a full-fledged 5-on-5 game.

Did he want to join? Of course.

Could he accept the invitation? Regrettably, no. Not at this particular stage of his pre-NBA Draft process, which will officially commence in late June when Gonzaga's All-American forward learns where he'll start the next chapter of his basketball career.

"I was like, 'Sorry guys, can't do it,' " Ike recalled. "They told me not to."

Two months out from the NBA Draft, Ike is heeding advice from trainers and agents, but it hasn't necessarily been easy for someone who was ready to be back in a basketball gym a matter of days after Texas ended Gonzaga's NCAA Tournament run with a 74-68 victory in the Round of 32.

"I had some people actually tell me, you need to put (the ball) down because that's how bad I was trying to get to it," Ike said earlier this week during a meet and greet at Walker's Furniture, one of the various Spokane institutions that established an NIL (Name Image Likeness) deal with the forward during his time at GU. "But it's all right, I understand balance is a great part of this. I definitely had to rest my body after the season, just how strenuous it was, the minutes I was playing.

"It's just the toll the body takes from the season, then also just to get ready to jump into this new phase of life in basketball. I definitely just took a short period of time, kind of forced, kind of not at the same time."

It probably helped either way.

Late last month, Ike injected life into Gonzaga's fading Sweet 16 hopes when he motored into the lane and finished a one-handed dunk with 40 seconds remaining at the Moda Center, trimming Texas' lead to one.

In the moment, it felt like the momentum-turning play that could extend Gonzaga's NCAA Tournament run - and Ike's career - by at least another 40 minutes.

Instead, a blown defensive coverage at the other end led to Camden Heide's uncontested 3-pointer, and the Longhorns walked out with a six-point victory, spoiling another magnificent performance from Ike, who led all scorers with 25 points.

"Everything takes time I feel like with processing," Ike said. "It wasn't just that game, it was just a culmination of the year, the last three years and then the three years before that and the four years before that in high school, what got us here. Then really my whole life, reflecting."

Before Ike steps into the next chapter of his basketball journey, he's taking time to reflect on the last one.

Like how the forward went from a zero-star prospect who barely registered on major recruiting websites to a two-time All-American who won West Coast Conference Player of the Year honors, became the focal point of every opponent scouting report and departed Gonzaga as college basketball's active leading scorer with 2,575 career points to his name.

"I definitely couldn't see this far at that time, but I really think it's just the culmination of work that began - it didn't really begin (in college), it started way before," Ike said. "... But it's great to definitely be here at the end of this college tenure and career with all the accolades and what not but the biggest lesson I've actually learned through my six years is just not to grip on the possessions, just to enjoy the bonding that we've got to have through team dinners, bus rides, team flights."

Ike will keep dozens of memories from Gonzaga's eventful 2025-26 season. The Zags won 31 games and captured a WCC Tournament championship despite dealing with setbacks that included Braden Huff's season-ending knee injury and smaller injuries to both Ike and Jalen Warley that impacted GU's rotation during conference play.

"All the leg days, all the practices in the summer, the gritty wins, the gritty practices, the adversity faced by a whole unit I hadn't seen at this grand scale up until this year," Ike said. "It was just awesome to watch us grow throughout the year."

For the moment, Ike is floating between Spokane and his home state of Colorado while working with a close friend who's putting him through individual training sessions designed to prepare the forward for any potential combine invitations or NBA workouts that could materialize in the coming months.

Ike's name hasn't appeared on NBA mock drafts, but players of his caliber - and with his level of college production - often sign two-way contracts, undrafted free agent deals or latch on with teams ahead of NBA Summer League.

Ike started getting shots up in a casual setting a few days after the Texas loss, but his workouts and training sessions have continued to progress since then.

"Then stationary shots, then the week after now we're moving, we're doing new stuff now," he said. "A lot more movement, a lot of different things with the ball in my hand right now, even without the ball. It's been a lot of movement."

Ike is easily the biggest piece GU needs to replace coming off a season that saw the veteran forward lead the Zags in scoring on 21 occasions while averaging a career-high 19.9 points and 8.0 rebounds.

GU's frontcourt should still be potent in 2026-27 with the expected return of Huff, who led the nation in total field goals and averaged 17.8 ppg before his knee injury.

"I think he went home yesterday to get some more tests and I saw him at the airport, we were talking real quick," Ike said of Huff. "I know he's locked in and he's focused and he's striving for greatness no matter what. I've been telling him, every moment is preparing you for the next and this is only going to make your armor stronger so keep pushing through. He's got this, man. His mindset is so ahead of the pack that he'll be all right."

The Zags are also bringing back key young pieces in freshmen Mario Saint-Supery and Davis Fogle. Saint-Supery became GU's full-time starting point guard late in the year and projects to slide into the same role next season after junior Braeden Smith transferred to Notre Dame.

"You don't see too many freshmen getting thrown into starting roles like that, especially at GU as a point guard. Which is very rare I think," Ike said. "He handled it great, it took him some time to get acclimated and used to the pace of the game and the way this college game is run, but he handled it well. I think really after he cut his hair, he started turning up. Right after that Oregon game, I saw a shift in his eyes and he really got to it."

Fogle, a 6-foot-7 wing who was parked at the end of Gonzaga's bench early in the year, may have been the team's most improved player and averaged 11.1 ppg in the final eight games after moving into the main rotation.

"His ceiling is not up to me, it's up to him and he knows that," Ike said. "He's such a great worker and hard worker, he can do anything he puts his mind to. So he'll be fine, he'll (be) fine man. He's ready for it."

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