Apr. 22—As college basketball’s transfer portal closed on Tuesday, Gonzaga got reassuring news from two of its most important players.
Graham Ike and Braden Huff, double-digit scorers in Gonzaga’s frontcourt who had success starting next to each other down the stretch last season, announced they’ll be returning to the Zags in 2025-26.
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The news arrived from Gonzaga’s athletic department via social media hours before the transfer portal closed and four days before the deadline for college players to enter the NBA draft.
The Zags made it through the 30-day transfer portal window with three defections — Michael Ajayi (Butler), Dusty Stromer (Grand Canyon) and Jun Seok Yeo (undecided) — and bring back a handful of players who’ll be expected to fill four key vacancies in the starting lineup and a number of others in GU’s main rotation next year.
Returning Ike and Huff, two of Gonzaga’s top three scorers from a year ago, is a solid place to start for a team that should have one of the country’s top frontcourt units entering the 2025-26 season.
Ike has led the Zags in scoring and rebounding both seasons since transferring from Wyoming, averaging 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 2024-25 en route to earning All-West Coast Conference first-team accolades for the second straight season. A former AP honorable mention All-American, Ike could collect preseason All-American honors in 2025-26 and should be the front-runner for WCC Player of the Year.
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The Colorado native started his college basketball career in 2020-21 at Wyoming, but is able to return through a COVID-19 waiver given to all players who competed during that season. Ike elected not to play during the 2022-23 season while recovering from a foot injury.
The senior, who has scored 1,969 career points at Wyoming and Gonzaga, didn’t divulge his plans after the team’s season-ending loss to Houston, but ultimately elected to use a fifth year of eligibility rather than test the NBA draft waters or explore other college options in the transfer portal, where he likely could have commanded significant name, image and likeness money.
Huff gave Gonzaga an effective frontcourt option off the bench last season, totaling 11.0 ppg and 3.4 rpg during his sophomore season. Similar to Ike, Huff wasn’t widely considered a potential NBA draft pick, but the productive forward would’ve also been an appealing option to dozens of high-major teams had he tested the transfer portal.
Both players were among the WCC’s most efficient around the rim, with Ike making 59.8% of his shots from the field and Huff scoring at a 57.7% clip.
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Gonzaga tried out a new look in the conference tournament title game against WCC nemesis Saint Mary’s, pairing the 6-foot-9 Ike with the 6-10 Huff in the starting lineup.
Huff scored 18 points, Ike added 11 and the frontcourt players combined for 11 of the team’s 28 rebounds in a 58-51 win over the Gaels.
Coach Mark Few later told reporters Gonzaga made the lineup change, which sent forward Ben Gregg to the bench in place of Huff, to give the Zags a more favorable matchup against the Gaels and forward Paulius Murauskas after losing two regular-season games to Saint Mary’s.
But Gonzaga rolled with the double-big lineup again during an opening-round NCAA Tournament game against Georgia, cruising to an 89-68 victory behind 31 combined points and 11 rebounds from Huff and Ike.
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In their third start together, Ike scored 27 points and Huff had 11, nearly helping Gonzaga pull off an upset of top-seeded and national runner-up Houston, losing 81-76 in Wichita, Kansas.
Both players remained noncommittal about their plans for next season in the moments after their Round of 32 loss, but Huff ruminated about the possibilities of playing a full season alongside Ike in the starting unit after a successful three-game stint to close the year.
“I think in those three games you saw a lot of it, he makes things so much easier on me when I’m on the court with him,” Huff said. “Just playing with another guy who’s that good, you saw it today especially. He can take over a basketball game like that. To be able to be on the court with a guy like that, just makes the game so much fun and so easy.”
Huff made his first career start at Portland last season when Ike moved to the bench after receiving a technical foul one game prior against Santa Clara.
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The sophomore averaged 14.7 in his four starts and scored 20-plus points twice last season, totaling 21 in an 88-80 win over Arizona State and a season-high 25 in nonconference play against Nicholls State.
Ike weighed in on starting next to Huff after the team’s opening-round NCAA Tournament win over Georgia.
“It just gives us another look in the paint, in the post, you know what I’m saying?” Ike said. “We know how great he is scoring the ball and it just gives us more scoring on the floor. Those guys score it well also, but (Huff) is just a little bigger and just plays a little bit different.”
The Zags are expected to build around a starting lineup with those two holding down frontcourt spots. The end of the transfer window also gives Gonzaga clarity elsewhere on its roster, with two other rotation pieces — forward Emmanuel Innocenti and center Ismaila Diagne — guaranteed to return next season.
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Ike, Huff, Innocenti and Diagne will join three redshirting players — point guard Braeden Smith, combo guard Jalen Warley and forward Steele Venters — on next year’s team, along with incoming freshman Davis Fogle, a four-star forward from Anacortes, Washington, who spent his senior high school season at Phoenix-based Compass Prep.
The departure of three outgoing transfers and seniors Ryan Nembhard, Nolan Hickman, Khalif Battle and Ben Gregg, leaves Gonzaga with six vacant scholarships.
The Zags have been in contact with a number of transfers, but have yet to add anyone through the portal or host a player on an official visit.
