Kelly Olynyk, Elias Harris Too Much for BYU as Gonzaga Rebounds

College Hoops Player of the Day for Thursday, January 24, 2013 BYU is an improved team this season, but they'll have to go a ways in order to compete with the top team in the WCC, as Gonzaga proved too powerful on the interior, cruising to an easy, 83-63, home win over the Cougars.

Seven-footer, Kelly Olynyk, was perfect both from the field and the foul line, making nine of nine shots and hitting all eight of his free throws for a game-high 26 points.

Falling just one rebound short of his third double-double of the season, Olynyk wiped the boards with nine rebounds.

Complementing his center's perfect play, Elias Harris did get his third double-double of the season, chipping in with 26 points on 8-for-11 shooting and 9-for-13 from the foul line with 10 boards.

The Bulldogs got off early and were up 40-21 at the half. For the game, they held BYU to just 36% shooting and out-rebounded them 37-29. The Bulldogs shot 57% for the game.

Gonzaga was coming off a last-second, one-point loss at Butler, but showed no negative hangover effect, winning for the 18th time against just two losses.

The Bulldogs lead the West Coast Conference with a 5-0 mark, trailed by St. Mary's (5-1), and 5-2 BYU.

Elias Harris Leads Gonzaga to 6-0 with 24 Point Effort

College Hoops Player of the Day for Sunday, November 25, 2012

Headed into Sunday's game with Davidson, the Gonzaga Bulldogs, ranked 17th in the last poll, look like the giant-killer they've always been under coach Mark Few.

With their 81-67 win over the Wildcats, the Zags improved to 6-0 and almost certainly will move up a few notches - possibly into the top 10 - when the new poll is released Monday afternoon.

Senior forward Elias Harris, who has averaged 13.6 points and 7.3 rebounds in his four years as a starter for Gonzaga, scored a season-high 24 points to lead all scorers on 9-for-11 shooting. Harris notched his second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds as he controlled the interior on both ends while Kevin Pangos dominated the outside, hitting five of nine three-pointers for his 23 points.

Elsewhere, #6 Syracuse defeated Colgate for the 47th consecutive time, 87-51; #15 Michigan State survived a scare from visiting Louisiana-Lafayette, 63-60; #1 Indiana demolished Ball State, 101-53; and Shabazz Muhammad's double-double was not enough to prevent UCLA from losing its second game of the season, 70-68, to Cal Poly.

The Bruins entered the week ranked #11, but lost to Georgetown on Monday, narrowly defeated Georgia, 60-56, and appear headed to the lower rungs of the Top 25 if not ending up unranked come Monday afternoon.

Harris Goes for Career-High 31 as Zags Top St. Mary's

College Hoops Player of the Day for Thursday, January 14, 2010

Every year, the Gonzaga Bulldogs field a team worthy of inclusion in the NCAA tournament field. Over the last decade, the Zags have become a nearly-permanent fixture of the tourney, and have gone from being a novelty to being a perennial high seed. This year's squad is no different, taking on teams from all over the country, and beating some of them, in preparation for the annual March madness.

On Thursday, the Bulldogs won their 5th straight, and 3rd straight on the road, with an important victory over one of their West Coast Conference main rivals, the St. Mary's Gaels. Leading the way to the 89-83 win was freshman forward Elias Harris, who did it all with a career-high 31 points on 13-for-20 shooting, and 13 rebounds. Operating mostly in the post, Harris displayed some very un-freshman-like skills and even drifted out beyond the arc on occasion, hitting one of his two 3-point attempts. Harris, 6'7", is a 46% shooter from downtown.

With wins in their first two conference games on the road over their main rivals for the WCC title - beating Portland on Saturday, 81-78, the Bulldogs are tied for first place with Pepperdine and appear to have a team worthy of a high seeding and potential run deep into the tourney field come March. Gonzaga is 13-3, with the losses coming against Michigan State, Duke and Wake Forest.