NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: FIRST ROUND - KENNESAW STATE VS GONZAGA

March 19, 2026

Mark Few

Davis Fogle

Graham Ike

Moda Center

Gonzaga Bulldogs

Media Conference

Gonzaga 73, Kennesaw State 64

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with questions.

Q. (No microphone.)

DAVIS FOGLE: Yeah, it's awesome. You come to play in the big moments, big games, the tournament. Super cool. Especially being from the state, seeing the Zags be successful in the tournament, it's awesome.

Q. When you started the season, you were playing mostly in reserve minutes. How has your confidence evolved over the year to go from junk time minutes to now being an essential part of this offense?

DAVIS FOGLE: Yeah, staying in the gym, trusting my work. I know my teammates and coaches trust me. When I got my opportunity, try to make the most of it. Do whatever it took to win.

Q. Coach, 17 straight NCAA tournaments with a win. Do you ever take time to appreciate the fact that you come to the tournament and at least advance every single time?

MARK FEW: Always, always I understand just how hard it is to win a game in this tournament. I think that's one of the things I'm most proud of, this streak of 28 straight or 27 straight now for our program.

But then also the fact that we've won games in this thing for whatever you said it was, 17 straight. I mean, you watch today, watch 16 seeds give 1s all kinds of problems. It's tough. It's really, really tough to win games this tournament.

I'm really happy we got through this one. It wasn't pretty. Bottom line is you just win. Now we get to move on.

Q. Coach, the first half down four, then you go up towards the end. What was the big turning point there?

MARK FEW: We started rebounding the ball. They were putting on us pretty good rebounding-wise. We got back to kind of attacking, getting a piece of the paint, just playing with more force on offense.

We were really soft on the offensive end. Weren't drawing any fouls. We weren't creating any advantages. Weren't getting the ball to the rim. We were just kind of settling.

It started by getting some stops, getting out running and attacking. That's without a doubt when we're at our best.

Q. Mark, 27 years and your head shot is still the same on Gonzaga's website.

MARK FEW: I think you know me. I don't do anything on any websites. I'm not aware of anything that you might say is on the 'web'. I just kind of dial into person-to-person stuff.

Q. You talked this season about what a tremendous shot-blocker Tyon is. How much does that change, especially when you are struggling, just give you a zap of energy?

MARK FEW: The best thing it does is when there's a breakdown, all of a sudden he's the type of guy that can make a play when there's a breakdown. That's what happened tonight. There were several breakdowns that we missed an assignment or didn't rotate over. Tyon saved us.

It's nice to have somebody that can do that. Obviously the way he rebounds the ball is special. We needed every one of them tonight.

Q. KSU likes to get out in transition, shoot the three ball well. You were able to slow them down. How did you go about accomplishing that?

MARK FEW: I mean, we did our best. Johnson is just such a good player. He's strong, he's in control, he really takes his time and manipulates every one of your ball screen coverages. I thought their staff did a good job of scheming, putting their guys in the right spots.

By and large it was getting back, setting our defense, setting our shadow, putting two on him early, rotating after that.

Q. Jalen played point guard and center sometimes throughout tonight. How big was that tonight?

MARK FEW: No, it's huge. When we had that little lull last time we were in Portland and here was because Jalen was injured. It just shows what he does for us. He's extremely versatile. He can play 1 through 5 on offense; he can play 1 through 5 on defense.

The greatest thing he does is he makes plays. I think at the start, running their 1-3-1, we made a couple mistakes, he comes in and punches a gap, throws a lob, we dunk it. That's a guy that can make plays. He's breaking on balls, getting steals on the defensive end.

That's just a wonderful strength that he has.

Q. Graham, you've been here a lot. The first game sometimes can be weird, especially double-digit seeds so excited to knock off the giant. How do you think you were able to get some separation?

GRAHAM IKE: Yeah, I thought we handled the adversity pretty well. We battled through storms. This team is built for adversity since the jump. I'm just super proud of how we handled it. We weathered that storm. We're going to watch the film tonight and tomorrow we're going to come back ready.

Q. Graham, you said last week that Davis and Mario kind of shed their freshmen tag last week. What do you think of the way they played tonight?

GRAHAM IKE: Yeah, I thought they played great. They showed a lot of confidence. They just stuck with it throughout certain things maybe not going their way. They still made plays. Next-play mentality, which was huge. Also came out with a dub. They had a big part in that.

Q. Graham, this was Jalen Warley double-double. His second of the season. What did you think of the performance he gave tonight?

GRAHAM IKE: Huge performance from J-War. I'm glad to see him as close to 100% as possible. He just makes a huge difference for our team when he's out there on the floor, whether it's through leadership, offensive end, defensive end. Man, he does it all for us. I'm just glad he's out there. Great performance from him tonight with a double-double.

THE MODERATOR: Gentlemen, thank you very much.