Patient Gonzaga trio eager to make debuts in Monday’s opener against Texas Southern

If the seven- to eight-month period that constitutes college basketball’s offseason feels like an eternity, try putting yourself in the shoes of Gonzaga’s Steele Venters, Braeden Smith and Jalen Warley.

Eons and eternities have gone by since all three last played meaningful basketball, but the waiting game ends for Venters, Smith, Warley and everyone else on Mark Few’s roster when No. 21 Gonzaga welcomes SWAC opponent Texas Southern to McCarthey Athletic Center for a regular-season opener at 6 p.m. The game will air locally on KHQ.

It’s officially been 227 days since Gonzaga closed the 2024-25 season with a narrow loss to Houston in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 32. That block of time feels marginal in comparison to the 591 days that have passed since Smith last played at Colgate, the 599 days that have elapsed since Warley’s last game at Florida State and, most notably, the 961 days Venters waited to get on the court for Gonzaga, undergoing successive ACL and Achilles injuries after transferring from Eastern Washington.

“I’m super excited. Obviously I’ve waited two years for this,” said Venters, who will debut for the Zags more than two years after signing with Few’s program on April 17, 2023. “I’m just blessed to be back, blessed to be with these guys and blessed to be out on the court again.”

Venters’ long-awaited return to the court, and possible introduction to the starting lineup, will be one of the top storylines to follow as the heavily favored Zags open the 2025-26 campaign. The Ellensburg native started in preseason exhibitions against Northwest University and Western Oregon and brings 3-point marksmanship to a team that last season posted one of the lowest outside shooting percentages in Few’s tenure at the school.

“Throughout his rehab process, obviously it was a grind,” Gonzaga assistant Brian Michaelson said last month at West Coast Conference media day. “We’ve talked about it here today, how impressive it was. His daily approach, his consistency, but his belief in himself and the positive attitude he had every day was really uplifting to the last two teams. Considering he couldn’t play, he was a huge part of those teams, a huge part of our culture.”

Smith will be someone else to monitor after taking a voluntary redshirt year to learn under NCAA assists leader Ryan Nembhard last season. The Seattle native and former Patriot League Player of the Year is projected to be Nembhard’s successor, but Monday will signify Smith’s first action in a game that counts toward the win-loss column since his Colgate team lost to Baylor in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

Inevitably, rust has also been building up for Warley, who should see his first minutes since the senior wing scored 10 points against North Carolina in the 2024 ACC Tournament.

On the eve of the season opener, it’s still unclear how Warley and virtually every player not named Graham Ike or Braden Huff fit into a rotation that could stretch 10 or 11 deep in 2025-26.

Thankfully, Monday’s game provides a runway for coaches to shuffle through different looks and lineups before the Zags begin a daunting stretch of nonconference games against Power Five opponents like Oklahoma, Creighton and Arizona State.

“I think the rotations will be a work in progress all year,” said Few, who’s beginning his 27th season as GU’s coach. “These guys, it’s good, they’re all bringing something so there’s not a whole lot of separation. They’re all willing, I think they all enjoy playing together. So knock on wood, you hope everybody stays healthy.”

Getting through Monday’s opener is the first step.

The Zags figure to have positional advantages across the board against a Texas Southern team that’s replacing its top scorer and top rebounder from a season ago. The Tigers were picked to finish fifth in the preseason SWAC poll after finishing 15-17 last year and going 12-6 in league play.

Zaire Hayes, a 6-foot-2 guard, is TSU’s only returning double-digit scorer, but the Tigers also bring back starting guard Kolby Granger, who averaged 7.3 points and 4.5 rebounds.

Gonzaga can preserve multiple streaks with a win on Monday. Few’s teams have won 21 consecutive season openers dating back to 2003 and 35 straight home openers. Another goal could be trying to usurp the margin of victory GU posted in last year’s opener, when the Zags steamrolled No. 7 Baylor 101-63 at the Arena.

Aside from Ike, Huff, junior forward Emmanuel Innocenti and sophomore center Ismaila Diagne, every other scholarship player on Gonzaga’s roster will be debuting for the program on Monday.

That group not only includes Venters, Smith and Warley, but two other transfers – Arizona State’s Adam Miller and Grand Canyon’s Tyon Grant-Foster – and three freshmen in Mario Saint-Supery, Davis Fogle and Parker Jefferson.

“We’ll have to adapt … guys will continue to make jumps and get better as they get in better shape and probably a better understanding of what we’re trying to do offensively and defensively,” Few said. “That’ll cause jumps and then we’ll just have to make those decisions as we move along.”