From news services

SPOKANE — Gonzaga’s Rasir Bolton announced Tuesday that he will not pursue any professional options and will return for the upcoming season.

Bolton was one of five Zags to declare for the NBA draft. The deadline to pull out of the draft is tonight at 8:59 p.m. PDT.

Freshman center Chet Holmgren is expected to be a top-five pick, and senior guard Andrew Nembhard declared for the draft for a third time, eliminating his chance to return to college.

To other Zags — junior forward Drew Timme and sophomore guard Julian Strawther — are still going through the draft process, but could pull out by the deadline tonight.

After transferring to Gonzaga from Iowa State, Bolton made an immediate impact for the Zags. He started all 32 games this past season, leading the team with 64 made three-pointers on 139 attempts. He led the West Coast Conference shooting 46 percent from behind the arc. The Petersburg, Va., native, made 50 percent from 3-point range during the conference play.

Bolton was named honorable mention All-WCC. He has scored 1,495 points in 115 games. He averaged 11.2 points per game in 2021-22 for GU. Bolton made 81.7 percent from the free-throw line. He was ninth in conference play with a 2.2 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Bolton was selected to the Division I-AAA ADA Men's Scholar Athlete Team. He is finalizing his Master of Arts and boasts a 4.0 grade point average with his M.A. in organizational leadership. He earned a cumulative GPA of 3.36 with Bachelor of Liberal Studies (B.L.S.) in August 2021 at Iowa State.

Bolton was named to the GU President's List (3.85+ GPA) in the fall. He was Academic All-Big 12 First Team (2021), Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll (Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Spring 2021), an Iowa State Scholar-Athlete (Spring 2021) and named to the NABC Honors Court (2021).

Bolton spent a large amount of time serving the community in Spokane in his senior season at Gonzaga.