May 15—A versatile West Coast Conference wing, a veteran Southeastern Conference scorer and now a Western Athletic Conference defensive ace.
A productive offseason in the transfer portal continued Wednesday afternoon for Gonzaga, which landed a commitment from Tarleton State’s Emmanuel Innocenti.
Innocenti, a native of Italy who just finished his freshman season at Tarleton State, becomes the latest addition to a talented transfer class that includes Pepperdine’s Michael Ajayi and Arkansas’ Khalif Battle.
The 6-foot-1 forward will have three years of eligibility remaining and would leave Gonzaga with two open scholarships if Ajayi withdraws his name from the NBA draft and returns to college.
With six of the seven rotation players back from last year’s Sweet 16 team and now three additions to the transfer portal, Gonzaga has assembled a roster that many analysts expect to be one of the most talented in the country in 2024-25.
The addition of Innocenti, a young forward who earned WAC All-Freshman and All-Defensive honors last season, further affirms why the Zags could also have one of the deepest rosters in college basketball.
Innocenti, who was raised in Bergamo, Italy, averaged 6.6 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.9 rebounds per game for Tarleton State, which posted a 25-10 record and finished second in the season standings. WAC regular and advanced to the semifinal round of the postseason College Insiders Tournament (CIT).
He finished the season shooting 40% from the field, 30% from 3-point range and 80% from the free throw line.
Innocenti, the only freshman on a WAC All-Defensive team that also featured four seniors, ranked fifth in the conference in averaging 1.6 steals per game — a number that would have led Gonzaga’s 2023-24 squad. , slightly surpassing Anton Watson (1.5 spg).
Innocenti started 33 of 35 games for Tarleton State, playing 31.7 minutes per game and logging 1,109 minutes last season – the most for a freshman in Tarleton State’s Division I era.
He scored a season-high 19 points, shooting 7-of-12 from the field during a WAC regular-season game against Texas-Arlington, and recorded a season-high 13 rebounds on two occasions during non-conference games.
Prior to Tarleton State, Innocenti played four seasons for Stella Azzurra Roma in Rome, scoring in double figures on three occasions during his final season with the Italian club.
Innocenti also has experience at the international level, representing his country at the FIBA Under-18 European Championship in 2022. He averaged 11.1 points and 7.1 rebounds and averaged 25.6 minutes in seven games in the competition.
Innocenti was born in Ivory Coast before moving to Italy at age 5 and briefly moving to Senegal when he was 10, according to a story from Euroligabasketball.net.
The 19-year-old will call Spokane home through at least the 2024-25 season, joining a Gonzaga team that was projected to be in the top 10 in very early college basketball polls and rankings.
The Bulldogs should be particularly deep at the wing/forward positions, returning starter Ben Gregg along with Dusty Stromer, who alternated between the point guard and small forward positions during his freshman season.
GU also returns little-used backup Jun Seok Yeo and Steele Venters, the former Eastern Washington sharpshooter who missed the 2023-24 season with an ACL injury. Ajayi, WCC’s leading scorer last year with Pepperdine, is also expected to compete for a starting spot next year if he returns to school. The Kent, Washington native is competing this week at the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago.
GU coach Mark Few and his staff have reportedly been in contact with Braeden Smith, another talented mid-major transfer who was the Patriot League Player of the Year last season at Colgate. Smith, a Seattle native, is reportedly leaning toward Gonzaga, according to Vince Grippi of The Spokesman-Review.
