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May 15—A versatile wing from the West Coast Conference, a veteran scorer from the Southeastern Conference and now a defensive ace from the Western Athletic Conference.
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 up 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-5 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 seven rotation players back from last year’s Sweet 16 team and now three transfer portal additions, Gonzaga’s composed a roster that many analysts expect to be one of the nation’s most talented 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 deeper 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 record of 25-10, finished second in the WAC regular-season standings and advanced to the semifinal round of the postseason College Insiders Tournament (CIT).
He finished the season shooting 40% from the field, 30% from the 3-point line 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 averaging 1.6 steals per game — a number that would’ve led Gonzaga’s roster in 2023-24, slightly edging Anton Watson (1.5 spg).
Innocenti started in 33 of 35 games for Tarleton State, playing 31.7 minutes per game and registering 1,109 minutes last season — the most for a freshman in Tarleton State’s Division I era.
He scored…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/gonzaga-adds-defensive-specialist-commitment-020200594.html
Author : The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.
Publish date : 2024-05-16 02:02:00
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