Area college basketball notes: Zags, Cougars honored

Gonzaga swept this week's West Coast Conference men's basketball awards, with Ryan Nembhard being named WCC Player of the Week and teammate Braden Huff honored as WCC Freshman of the Week, the conference announced on Monday.

A transfer from Creighton, Nembhard averaged 18.5 ppg in the Bulldogs' two wins last week over Cal State Bakersfield and USC. In the win over the Trojans, Nembhard posted 15 points and seven assists. Against the Roadrunners, he scored 22 points, along with five assists and two steals. 

Huff scored 12 points in both of the Zags' contests last week. He had six rebounds in both games combined, including four against Cal State Bakersfield. On the court for nearly 20 minutes per game last week, Huff connected on 10 of his 16 shots from the field combined. 

Gonzaga moved up to seventh from 11th in this week's Associated Press poll. The Zags play host to Arkansas-Pine Bluff tonight at 6.

Yvonne Ejim of Gonzaga was voted WCC Women's Basketball Player of the Week.

Ejim averaged 25 points this week, highlighted by a 27-point performance over No. 3 Stanford to lead the Zags to the 96-78 upset. She also collected 23 points in GU's 82-80 win over Eastern Washington, recording back-to-back doubles to help the Bulldogs go 2-0 on the week. Ejim grabbed 12 rebounds against the Cardinal and pulled down 10 boards at Eastern Washington. 

Gonzaga also moved into the rankings at No. 23 in this week's AP poll.

The Zags were last ranked last season and reached as high as No. 15. The highest ranking the Zags have ever reached in the poll was No. 11 in the 2019-20 season.

Gonzaga plays at Cal on Thursday and at Rice on Saturday. 

Washington State's Myles Rice was named the Pac-12 men's basketball freshman of the Week.

Rice scored a combined 47 points across two Cougar wins, including a career and WSU season-high 28 points in last Monday's win over Eastern Washington. Rice started 6 of 6 from 3-point range and finished the two-game stretch 16 of 29 (55.2%) from the floor on 23.5 ppg.

The South Carolina native is currently the highest-scoring freshman in the conference at 17.43 ppg, fifth-best in the Pac-12. Twice Rice has eclipsed 20 points, making him and Southern California’s Isaiah Collier the only freshmen in the League with multiple 20-point performances.

Washington State plays host to UC Riverside on Wednesday.