Gonzaga’s Rasir Bolton selected to participate in Portsmouth Invitational

Rasir Bolton’s next competitive basketball minutes will come at the Portsmouth Invitational, a postseason tournament held Wednesday to Saturday in the Gonzaga senior’s home state of Virginia.

Bolton was one of 64 players selected to compete in the annual showcase, which is designed to give college seniors exposure in front of professional scouts.

Eight teams of eight players will play in the 12-game tournament, held over four days in Portsmouth, Virginia, which is approximately 80 miles southeast of Bolton’s hometown of Petersburg.

Bolton spent the last two years of a five-year college career at Gonzaga, starting all 69 games he played in for the Bulldogs while helping Mark Few’s program extend its national-record run of Sweet 16 appearances to eight.

As a junior, the sharpshooting Bolton averaged 11.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game for the Zags while making a team-high 46% from the 3-point line and 81% from the free throw line.

Bolton, who spent one season at Penn State and two more at Iowa State before transferring to Gonzaga, took advantage of a COVID-19 waiver and returned to Spokane for his fifth season.

In the 2022-23 season, the guard averaged 10.1 points, 2.5 assists and 1.9 rebounds while connecting on 39% of his attempts from the 3-point arc. He scored a season-high 24 points in Gonzaga’s 88-72 win over Kentucky and helped the Zags overcome a double-digit deficit at San Francisco, making 6 of 7 3-pointers, including a handful down the stretch of a narrow 77-75 win.

Bolton and the Zags faced a handful of the players competing in the Portsmouth Invitational, including San Diego’s Eric Williams, Loyola Marymount’s Cam Shelton, UCLA’s David Singleton and Tyger Campbell, Texas’ Sir’Jabari Rice and Timmy Allen, TCU’s Damion Baugh and Kent State’s Sincere Carry.

Former Eastern Washington and Shadle Park High standout Tanner Groves, who spent the last two seasons at Oklahoma, was also invited to the PIT. Groves averaged 10.2 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Sooners last season.

Former and current NBA standouts who’ve participated in the PIT include Rick Barry, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, Dave Cowens, Scottie Pippen, Tim Hardaway, Dennis Rodman and Jimmy Butler.