Arizona
What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after tough win over Arizona State
Friday didn’t feature the cleanest 40 minutes Gonzaga has put together over the first two weeks of the college basketball season.
Though despite an abnormal amount of turnovers, defensive lapses and woeful shooting stretches, the Bulldogs remained level-headed down the stretch to leave Desert Financial Arena with a 77-65 victory over Arizona State.
A combined 58 free throw attempts, 44 foul calls and a pair of technical fouls between the future and former Pac-12 schools underscored the chaotic nature of the late-night tilt, creating quite the environment for the Bulldogs’ first true road test of the 2025-26 campaign.
After having its 14-point lead chopped down to five midway through the second half, Gonzaga took advantage of a pair of technical fouls assessed against the Sun Devils, including one on head coach Dan Hurley, to pull away late and advance to 4-0 on the season.
Here’s what Mark Few had say about his team’s performance after the game.
“I think we just kind of hung in there. I thought we had some really good performances by several of our guys, but it was kind of like in spurts, and then in some instances, a good first half out of somebody, and then not so good the second half.”
“Like I told them afterwards, anytime we can win a game like this, and maybe not feel like we played perfect; as long as we learn from it, that was a really, really good chance to learn. So we got to watch a lot of stuff.”
“Obviously, their quickness and athleticism and what they were doing had a lot to do with it. But these guys stepped up. [Ike] made big plays in both halves. I thought Tyon really got in there and really helped us, especially in that first half, really made a difference.”
“We were struggling on the offensive end. Too many turnovers for us, and too many kind of little defensive breakdowns there that we’ve been doing a good job and not having quite as many of those.”
“That’s so hard to do. He had missed some shots early, and I know he was down on himself, wasn’t feeling good. And I think that just shows incredible mental toughness … when it’s not going good, to flip the switch and come back and make plays and those shots were huge. It kind of gave us a cushion to kind of get us through there at the end, so I was proud of him.
“That was a kind of a hostile environment and kind of a crazy game, but our guys just made enough plays to win.”
“I mean, it’s hard to put your finger on it. Sometimes it’s been a little bit of a defensive problem. Sometimes it’s been a little bit of an offensive problem.”
“You’re not going to blow somebody out in the first 4 minutes. We’re establishing a rhythm, trying to figure out how they’re covering us, and if our coverages are working, and how they’re attacking that. So a lot of times it’s just a little bit of a feeling-out process.”