The 2025-26 college basketball season is here, with Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs kicking things off on Monday at 6:00 PM against Texas Southern at the McCarthey Athletic Center.
Gonzaga has won their season opener 21 consecutive years, with the last loss coming on Nov. 14, 2003, against Saint Joseph’s. The Zags are also 5-0 all-time against the Tigers of Texas Southern, including a 97-69 win to open up the 2017-18 season, and most recently a 101-62 win in 2019.
Texas Southern has a veteran team with ten returners, including preseason All-SWAC selection Zaire Hayes, but ultimately Gonzaga’s significant size advantage should allow them to pick up a victory before a big weekend matchup with Oklahoma on Saturday, and a home matchup with No. 23 Creighton on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
For Gonzaga, this game is more about finding the perfect lineup combinations and helping new players get acclimated to the system in a game setting, including 6’7 transfer wing Tyon Grant-Foster, who only had his eligibility reinstated last week.
Below is a look at five things to watch for on Monday night in The Kennel when Gonzaga begins the 2025-26 season officially:
Graham Ike, Braden Huff, and Braeden Smith are near-locks to start at center, power forward, and point guard for Gonzaga on Monday. But the two wing positions remain very much up in the air — which is quite unusual for coach Few’s team.
Gonzaga started Emmanuel Innocenti and Steele Venters in those spots last Monday against Western Oregon, relegating senior transfer Adam Miller to a bench role. Innocenti did not suit up in the team’s previous exhibition game against Northwest, so signs point to him starting on Monday.
It makes sense for Gonzaga to pair Innocenti and Venters together, as they have symbiotic skill sets that fit the rest of the lineup quite well. Venters is a knockdown three-point shooter who forces defenses to respect him on the perimeter — which gives more space for Ike and Huff to operate down low. Meanwhile, Innocenti provides much-needed on-ball defense and screen navigation to the starting five, something coach Few noted after the exhibition game last week.
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Emmanuel Innocenti (5). / Photo by Myk Crawford
“What a difference it was having E [Innocenti] out there defensively tonight,” Few said. “He can really, really pressure the ball and move his feet, and he really activates us on the defensive end. [If] he brings that, [and] other guys bring what they’re supposed to bring, we should be alright.”
The other question mark for the Zags is Grant-Foster, who is Gonzaga’s best two-way wing capable of making a positive impact both offensively and defensively for this team. However, the 6’7 transfer from Grand Canyon has not spent much time around the team this offseason due to his five-month battle with the NCAA for eligibility. It seems likely Grant-Foster will get eased into action for Gonzaga this season, and while he may start regularly for this team down the stretch, it would be a surprise to see him in the starting five on Monday.
Ike and Huff will be Gonzaga’s starting frontcourt all season long, after doing so in the final three games of the 2024-25 season: a win over Saint Mary’s in the WCC championship, a win over Georgia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, and a narrow loss to Houston in the Round of 32.
Ike dominated in the Houston game, but Huff was excellent in all three contests as well, and it stands to reason Gonzaga will give both bigs plenty of touches as they each excel at scoring efficiently around the rim.
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). / Photo by Myk Crawford
Gonzaga’s first game will be an early look at just how those touches might get divided up. Will Ike still be the focal point down on the block, with Huff playing more of the traditional power forward role? Or will Huff slide into more of a Drew Timme-esque role as an offensive hub? Or will it be entirely dependent on matchups? This game certainly won’t give fans a conclusive answer to those questions, but it will provide more data and insight into the team’s plan with its two super elite bigs.
Neither of Grant-Foster’s previous appearances in a Gonzaga uniform can be judged adequately. First, he appeared briefly at Kraziness in the Kennel, having only arrived on campus for practice two days prior after the NCAA granted him a practice waiver.
Fast forward a few weeks and the NCAA denied his waiver once again, forcing a lawsuit that kept him out of Gonzaga’s exhibition game against Northwest. He had his injunction granted one hour before the team’s final exhibition game against Western Oregon, and while he did play in that game, it is once again hard to judge his performance, considering the emotional toll a day in a courtroom took on him, and again, the extreme lack of time spent practicing/playing with this team.
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Tyon Grant-Foster (7). / Photo by Erik Smith
The 6’7 Grand Canyon transfer is still very far behind the sticks in terms of learning the ebbs and flows of Gonzaga’s system, but at least now he has a little bit more experience under his belt and – most importantly — is not having to worry about his eligibility status anymore.
It’s hard to imagine Grant-Foster out there for 25+ minutes, especially with Gonzaga’s outstanding amount of depth, but just how much he plays — and how familiar he is with the system — will be a key thing to watch throughout the early part of the season.
There’s no doubt redshirt transfer guard Braeden Smith will start for Gonzaga on Monday night. However — unlike the past few years where Ryan and Andrew Nembhard played 32-25 minutes per game — Smith has real competition for his minutes.
Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Mario Saint-Supery. / Photo by Myk Crawford
Mario Saint-Supery is projected to come off the bench and play a hybrid PG/SG role for Gonzaga this season. He’s still getting used to the system and the rule differences between FIBA and college, but as he gets more and more in tune with basketball in the States, his incredible physical tools and experience playing against pros could push him into more of a timeshare with Smith at the one.
Smith should play 30+ minutes on Monday, but how much Few trusts Saint-Supery in game one is a good indication of how that role might materialize as the year goes on.
Jefferson was a surprise commitment to Gonzaga’s 2025 recruiting class, choosing the Zags after decommitting from Minnesota. The 6’10 big man from Texas played very little at Kraziness in the Kennel and in the team’s two exhibition games, in all three cases racking up fewer minutes than walk-on forward Noah Haaland.
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Parker Jefferson (32). / Photo by Myk Crawford
It sure looks like Jefferson could be ticketed for a redshirt season, with Ike, Huff, Ismaila Diagne, and Jalen Warley likely to soak up the frontcourt minutes this year.
If Jefferson is dressed and ends up in the game on Monday, he is far less likely to end up redshirting — although he still could. If he does not end up on the floor and the game is well out of hand, it could be a sign he’s going to redshirt, which many great Zags — including Huff — have done before blossoming into great players in Spokane.
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