Olynyk’s 33 points lift GU past Santa Clara
Junior forward Kelly Olynyk had the best game of his Gonzaga career, racking up 33 points and 10 rebounds to lift the visiting Gonzaga Bulldogs to an 81-74 win over Santa Clara on Saturday.
Gonzaga improved to 15-1, 2-0 WCC. Santa Clara dropped to 12-4, 1-1. Kevin Foster led SCU with 29 points, but made just 10 of 24 shots. Olynyk was 12 of 15 from the field and 8 of 9 at the free-throw line.
My unedited game story is below.
By
Staff writer
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Seven days, more than 3,500 air miles, four different hotels, three opponents with a combined record of 30-9.
And three large wins.
Gonzaga’s week-long road odyssey came to a successful conclusion courtesy of Kelly Olynyk, who poured in a career-high 33 points to carry the 10th-ranked Bulldogs to an 81-74 men’s basketball victory Saturday at a raucous
“That was a great road trip, probably the best I’ve been on in 25 years,” Bulldogs coach Mark Few said. “That was a very inspired, spirited and much improved
Some of those shots came from an overflow crowd, where the student section kept serenading Olynyk with chants of, “Get a Haircut.” Olynyk kept tuning up Santa Clara’s defense, knocking down 12 of 15 shots and 8 of 9 free throws to eclipse his career-best 22 points against Washington State a month ago.
“Best I’ve ever seen him play,” forward Elias Harris said. “He was hitting every shot, he drove to the hoop, rebounding. He did everything you can do in a basketball game.”
“To do it in that type of environment and put the team on his back was great,” guard Kevin Pangos said. “We just had to keep feeding him, it wasn’t complicated.”
In the WSU game and a few others, including
“I was finally able to put two halves together of similar caliber,” Olynyk said. “Coach (Ray) Giacoletti came up to me before the game and said, ‘We need you right from the start.’ I took that to heart and really attacked. And then he came up before second half and said, ‘Now we need your second half.’ ”
Gonzaga (15-1) needed all of its composure, 55.3-percent field-goal shooting and 90-percent free-throw accuracy to hold off several
Foster scored the first six points of the second half and Marc Trasolini followed with the next six as
The Broncos wouldn’t go away, pulling within four points three times. Olynyk answered each time, first with a pair of free throws, then on a layup off Mike Hart’s pass and finally with a putback of a Pangos miss.
“You can’t let a guy come in and have a career night in your own gym,” Broncos coach said Kerry Keating said. “We had to keep trying to find ways to stop him and we didn’t.”
Foster finished with 29 points, but made just 10 of 24 shots, including 2 of 12 3-pointers, some launched from as far as 25 feet. Trasolini added 19 points and nine rebounds, but Evan Roquemore, Foster’s back-court running mate, made just 2 of 10 shots.
“He (Foster) has the ultimate green light and they keep running stuff for him over and over,” said Hart, one of several Zags who guarded Foster. “As long as he’s shooting below 50 percent, he’s not hitting 3s every time and we get the ‘W’, I can live with that.”
Harris finished with 14 points,
“We’re in the most difficult part of the schedule that I’ve ever been part of,” said Few, citing an upcoming stretch with Saint Mary’s visit on Thursday, followed by a road trip to