What Emmanuel Innocenti entering the transfer portal means for Gonzaga basketball

Mark Few loses his first ever starter to the transfer portal

Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Emmanuel Innocenti (5). | Photo by Myk Crawford

Mark Few has managed to retain talent at an extraordinarily high level for the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the transfer portal era.

In fact, over the half-decade of heavy transfer movement, Gonzaga has never had a player enter the portal who averaged 20+ minutes per game or started the majority of their games in the previous season.

Until now.

Easter Sunday started out with the surprising news that Emmanuel Innocenti, who started 29 of Gonzaga's 35 games last season, is planning to enter the transfer portal. The news was reported by DraftExpress on social media on Sunday morning.

Innocenti cannot officially enter the portal until it opens on Tuesday, April 7, the day after the national championship between the UConn Huskies and Michigan Wolverines. Players will have 15 days to enter the portal this year before it closes on April 21.

Innocenti joins walk-on guard Cade Orness, who announced his plans to transfer back on April 1.

NEWS: Gonzaga’s Emmanuel Innocenti intends to enter the transfer portal, his reps at THE·TEAM tell DraftExpress.

The Italian utility wing stepped into a starting role for the 31-win Zags, adding immense value as a two-way connector.

Stars in his role and drives winning. pic.twitter.com/Xvx6yInbiW

— Jon Chepkevich (@JonChep) April 5, 2026

While Innocenti was never much of a scorer - finishing eighth on the team with 6.0 points per game - he was Gonzaga's on-ball defensive maestro, with coach Few deploying him on the opponent's best offensive player on a nightly basis.

"It goes unsaid just his defensive prowess and effort and ability to pressure the ball and just chasing people around for 30 seconds on every possession," Few said of Innocenti back in late February. "We usually put him on their best perimeter player, we're asking a lot out of him [and] he's delivering in a big way."

The end result was the 6'5 wing playing the third most minutes per game for Gonzaga at 24.3, behind Graham Ike (31.2) and Braden Huff (25.4), although Huff missed the second half of the season with a knee injury.

Following Huff's injury and the quad contusion suffered by Jalen Warley in Gonzaga's road loss to Portland, Innocenti stepped into an absolutely massive role for the Zags. Across the final 11 games of the season, the rising senior averaged a whopping 33.7 minutes per game, while scoring 8.3 points with 5.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 steals.

That included playing 38 minutes against Santa Clara in the WCC Tournament championship, 34 minutes vs Kennesaw State in the NCAA Tournament, and 39 minutes against Texas in the Round of 32.

Innocenti broke double figures six times this past season, including a season-high 15 at Santa Clara in mid-February, as well as 15 on 5-7 shooting from three against Maryland and 12 points, eight rebounds, and four steals at San Francisco.

Innocenti's departure is costly for a Gonzaga team that already lost key wing depth in Warley, Tyon Grant-Foster, and Adam Miller, who are all out of eligibility. The team will build around rising sophomore superstar Davis Fogle, as well as incoming freshmen Jack Kayil and Luca Foster and likely at least two additions via the transfer portal.