Gonzaga fills major need with Dayton transfer Javon Bennett

After an agonizing three weeks, Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs finally have a point guard on their roster ahead of the 2026-27 season.

Javon Bennett, who played one year at Merrimack and three years at Dayton, committed to join the Zags on Wednesday for his fifth and final season of eligibility.

Bennett was one of 24 college basketball players granted an additional year of eligibility in the Ohio lawsuit, which also gave players the opportunity to enter the transfer portal free of penalty.

So now he heads to Spokane, joining center Massamba Diop (Arizona State) and guard Isiah Harwell (Houston) as transfer portal additions for the Zags while helping to shore up a massive area of need as the lone point guard on the roster.

NEWS: Dayton transfer guard Javon Bennett has committed to Gonzaga, his agent Harrison Gaines told @On3. ⁰⁰The 5-10 senior averaged 15.8 PPG this past season. He was recently granted a fifth year of eligibility through the Ohio ruling. https://t.co/qD1DfPRTpr pic.twitter.com/WHRNHz50eY
— Joe Tipton (@JoeTipton) August 5, 2026

Who is Javon Bennett?

Mar 15, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Dayton Flyers guard Javon Bennett (0) | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Bennett is a 5'11 guard from Orlando, Florida, who spent his freshman season at Merrimack in the NEC before playing the past three seasons with the Dayton Flyers in the A-10.

At Merrimack as a freshman, Bennett averaged 9.6 points, 3.4 assists, and a league-leading 2.9 steals per game, earning NEC Rookie of the Year honors before making the move up to the Atlantic 10 to play for a historically great Dayton program.

Bennett steadily took on a bigger scoring role each year with the Flyers, culminating in a senior season where he averaged 15.8 points, 2.9 assists, and 1.5 steals in 34.5 minutes per game, while shooting 45.3% on twos, 34.7% from 3, and 89.8% from the free throw line.

The 5'11 guard had his best shooting season as a junior, hitting 39% of his 5.4 three point attempts per game, and while that did drop this past season, he did take seven threes per night - and his 90 made threes were third in the conference and nearly double the 48 made by Gonzaga's leader last year in Mario Saint-Supery.

Bennett had big games against power conference teams last season, including a 22 point, three assist performance on 6-11 shooting from three against BYU, 25 points, two assists, and two steals vs Florida State, and 19 points, four assists, and three steals at Marquette.

Fit at Gonzaga

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Braden Huff (34). | Photo by Erik Smith

Bennett isn't the passing machine Ryan Nembhard was, but he is an expert ball-handler who can capably run an offense and navigate the pick and roll, while also taking over as a scorer when necessary.

In a system catered toward the big men, and with elite scoring teammates Braden Huff, Davis Fogle, and Massamba Diop, Bennett will take on more of a facilitation role in Spokane - and his career 399-to-211 assist-to-turnover ratio proves he's more than capable of filling that role.

Bennett is undersized for a Gonzaga guard at 5'11, but he displayed a lot of tenacity defensively in his career and should be pesky enough on that end of the floor to disrupt Pac-12 guards all season long.

The addition of Bennett does not take Gonzaga out of the running for Donovan Dent, but it does give the team a starting-caliber point guard that is cleared for eligibility - a desperately needed win for this team after a tumultuous offseason in the backcourt with the surprising losses of Mario Saint-Supery and Jack Kayil.

Add us as a preferred source on Google