Gonzaga finalizes 2024-25 men’s basketball roster

Bulldogs made next season’s roster official with measurements and jersey numbers for all 17 players

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

With just over 100 days left on the calendar until college basketball returns, the Gonzaga men’s basketball program has finalized its 2024-25 roster.

Height, weight, seniority and jersey numbers for all 17 Bulldogs have been locked in for the upcoming season, which will be head coach Mark Few’s 26th at the helm and likely the 15th consecutive as an AP Top 25 team heading into the new campaign.

Early polls and rankings from both humans and computers have the Zags near the top of the sport’s hierarchy following an offseason filled with chaotic player movement and coaching changes across the country. Few’s stable core and batch of newcomers has Gonzaga ranked in the top 10 in power rankings from The Athletic (No. 2), ESPN (No. 5), CBS Sports (No. 8), FOX Sports (No. 8) and Bart Torvik’s 2024-25 projection model (No. 9). 

Preseason polls haven’t always translated to immediate results — remember the Bulldogs fell out of the top 25 in January after starting at No. 11 — and expectations will likely be even loftier for this group based on last season’s finish (the program’s ninth straight Sweet 16 appearance) and the incoming talent acquired via the transfer portal. ESPN’s 2025 tournament bracketology has the Zags slated for a No. 2 seed and a short trip across the state for the first and second rounds in Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena. Most major U.S. sportsbooks give Gonzaga equal or better than +2000 odds to win the program’s first national title next season, with the best value at +1200 odds (Bally Sports and BetRivers). 

Here’s a look at who will suit up for the Bulldogs in the 2024-25 season.

Returners:

G Ryan Nembhard (senior)
G Nolan Hickman (senior)
G Joe Few (senior)
G Joaquim Aruz-Moore (redshirt freshman)
F Ben Gregg (senior)
F Braden Huff (redshirt sophomore)
F Dusty Stromer (sophomore)
F Jun Seok Yeo (junior)
F Steele Venters (redshirt junior)
C Graham Ike (redshirt senior)

Bringing back 10 players, with the opportunities granted by the transfer portal and NIL, is quite impressive. According to Bart Torvik, the Bulldogs return 81.4% of the minutes played from last season, which ranks as the fifth-most in the country and is the program’s highest retention rate in a year-to-year span since the 2005-06 season. It’s also the first time since the 2018-19 campaign that Few brought back three All-WCC players from the year prior. 

“I don’t think anyone even thought about leaving,” Gregg said of Gonzaga’s roster staying together. “None of us wanted to leave. Last year we knew that what we did was pretty special, making the Sweet 16. We were like, if we have the same group coming back, get a couple of new guys in, I think we can make a run at it this year.”

Gregg, the spark plug that ignited the midseason turnaround in the starting lineup, could take on more of a leadership role as a senior who possesses all the key characteristics of a true Gonzaga player. Dusty Stromer will compete for minutes in a crowded wing position, while Braden Huff looks to be another big contributor as a redshirt sophomore.

Nembhard will have the keys to offense once again after a historic first season as Few’s lead guard. While no one expects Nembhard to break the program record for assists in a season again, there’s optimism in the fact that for the first time since Josh Perkins, the Bulldogs are going to roll with the same point guard from the previous season. Based on the recent history of the sport, that bodes well for the Bulldogs’ championship aspirations. 

Of the last 10 national champions, seven of those teams had the same starting point guard from the previous season. Two of the three exceptions went on to win multiple titles with the same starting point guard (2023 UConn and 2016). Continuity might not be as significant of a factor to win a national championship, but it certainly plays a role in regard to the point guard position.

Venters is slated to make his long-awaited debut as he continues to recover from an ACL injury he suffered just days before the 2023-24 home opener against Yale. What role the 6-foot-7 sharpshooter will play in his first season will partially depend on his health and availability. Worth noting is he’s classified as a redshirt junior on Gonzaga’s official roster — which would grant him two seasons of eligibility in Spokane.

NEWCOMERS:

G Khalif Battle (grad transfer)
G Immanuel Innocenti (sophomore)
G Braeden Smith (redshirt)
G Cade Orness (freshman, preferred walk-on)
F Michael Ajayi (senior)
F Noah Haaland (redshirt junior)
C Ismaila Diagne (freshman)

Few and the coaching staff reeled in some big catches from the transfer portal pond to round out some areas for growth based on last season — 3-point shooting, scoring, defense and overall depth.

Battle — who’ll sport No. 99 with the Zags, the first No. 99 in program history — provides quite the scoring pop after he averaged 29.6 points over his last seven games with the Razorbacks. The 6-foot-5 guard figures to rotate in with Nembhard and Hickman in the backcourt, though there’s potential for him to share the court with the two All-WCC guards in certain situations that require Gonzaga to go with a smaller lineup. 

The same goes for Innocenti, who traded his No. 9 Tarleton State jersey with a red, white and blue No. 5 jersey this offseason. His presence will be felt greater on the defensive end of the floor, as the Italian wing can defend multiple positions and gives the Zags a perimeter player who can switch screens effectively. Innocenti was WAC All-Defense and WAC All-Freshman this past season.

Innocenti also brings some international experience with him to Spokane. The 6-foot-5 wing represented his home Italy in the U20 EuroBasket and averaged 6.3 points, a team-high 6.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals across seven games. The Italians went 5-2 and finished ninth.

“I really like what I see in bringing him to this roster," Dan Dickau said of Innocenti on Gonzaga Nation. "If you’re willing to go challenge for playing time at a high program like a Gonzaga, you’re built with the makeup of wanting to go get it."

Ajayi — wearing No. 1 with his new team — adds even more scoring as a 6-foot-7 wing who shot 47.0% from 3-point range this past season. The Pepperdine transfer led the WCC in scoring with 17.2 points to go with 9.9 rebounds per game. After turning some heads at the NBA Draft Combine, a lot of eyes will be on Ajayi as a senior on a top 10 team in the country. 

As is the case with Colgate transfer Braeden Smith, the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year who will redshirt next season, some of Gonzaga’s offseason additions address the program’s needs for next season and beyond. As for Diagne (No. 24), a 7-footer who can protect the rim and is a lob threat as a rim-running center on offense, his athleticism and length are valuable traits near the rim on both ends of the floor. Even if he doesn’t feature immediately, he could be a contributor in the future.

“I think he’s gonna bring a lot to the table,” Dickau said of Diagne. ”But again, expectations should and probably need to be tempered based on him being a late addition.”

Halaand (No. 35) and Orness (No. 7) likely won’t see the floor — fellow walk-on Aruz-Moore didn’t see the floor as a freshman last season — but they’ll still get valuable reps in practice. 

DEPARTURES:

G Luka Krajnovic (Croatia)
F Colby Brooks (transfer portal)
F Pavle Stosic (Utah State)
F Anton Watson (NBA)

There’s not a one-for-one replacement out there for a player like Watson, who’s been Gonzaga’s problem-solver on both ends of the floor for the greater part of his five-year career. His departure will likely be felt in many ways, especially on the defensive end of the floor where he often was tasked with guarding the opponent’s best offensive player. Without a true defensive anchor on the roster, it’ll require a collective group effort to fill that void left by Watson. 

It’s unknown how much playing time would’ve gone either to Stosic or Krajnovic given how the roster has shaped out for next season.