Gonzaga big man Braden Huff earns WCC Player of the Week honors

After a pair of 20 point performances over the weekend, Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Braden Huff was named the West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week. It is the first honor of the year for Huff and second for Gonzaga after Graham Ike won the award back on Nov. 17.

Huff scored 20 points on 9-11 shooting in Gonzaga's 35 point rout of Kentucky in Nashville on Friday, and followed that up with a 24 point performance Sunday evening against North Florida in Spokane. Without Ike, who was held out due to lingering ankle soreness, Huff took over as Gonzaga's go-to scorer against the Ospreys, finishing just two point shy of his career-high.

Across those two games, Huff scored 44 points on 21-28 (75%) shooting from the field, while racking up nine rebounds, four assists, two steals, and one block.

Huff was chosen among nine nominees from the WCC, including Mookie Cook (San Francisco), Joshua Dent (Saint Mary's), Allen Graves (Santa Clara), James O'Donnell (Portland), Elias Ralph (Pacific), AJ Thomas (LMU), Tomas Thrastarson (Washington State) and Dez White (Oregon State).

Graves was the winner of the WCC Freshman of the Week award after averaging 12.5 points and 7.0 rebounds last week for the Broncos. He won the award over eight other WCC freshmen, including Gonzaga's Mario Saint-Supery.

Through ten games this season, Huff is putting up career numbers across the board. He is averaging 17.0 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 0.5 steals in 24 minutes per game while shooting a blistering 70.9% on two point attempts. He has work to do at the free throw line (47.1%) and from beyond the arc (16.7%) but his elite footwork and charmin soft touch around the rim have made him a nearly unstoppable force with the ball on the block.

Gonzaga will need the 6'10 big man to be at his best over the next two weeks, with upcoming matchups against UCLA and Oregon on Dec. 13 and Dec. 21 in Seattle and Portland, respectively.

UCLA boasts a formidable frontcourt trio that includes returners Tyler Bilodeau and Eric Dailey along with Michigan State transfer Xavier Booker. Bilodeau is leading the team with 15.6 points per game, while Dailey is averaging nearly 12 and 5 and Booker is leading the team with 1.6 blocks per contest.

And while Oregon has failed to live up to expectations in their 4-5 start, they still represent a strong matchup up front with Nate Bittle, KJ Evans, and Sean Stewart. Bittle, a former Zag target out of high school, is averaging 14.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game, while Evans (12.6 and 7.1) and Stewart (7.0 and 5.2) are big, experienced guys as well.

Gonzaga and UCLA will tip-off at 8:30 PM PT on Saturday, Dec. 13 on ESPN.

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