For the second year in a row, the Gonzaga Bulldogs will be without sharp shooting wing Steele Venters. Venters suffered a left Achilles tendon injury and will miss the 2024-25 college basketball season, according to a release by the school on Tuesday.
“We are heartbroken for Steele,” coach Mark Few said. “He was working so hard to come back from his knee injury. We will continue to support Steele through his healing process and know he will come back better and stronger.”
Venters came to Gonzaga as a transfer early in the 2023 offseason. He had just wrapped up his junior season at Eastern Washington, 30 minutes down the road in Cheney, averaging 15.3 points on 37.1% shooting from beyond the arc.
That was enough for him to win Big Sky Player of the Year over Northern Colorado wing Dalton Knecht, who transferred to Tennessee and ultimately became an All-American and a first round pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2024.
However, Venters suffered a torn ACL in his right knee just a few days before the team’s season began at home against Yale, forcing true freshman Dusty Stromer into the starting lineup.
Venters was on the road to recovery and was expected to play a role as a floor spacer off the bench for the Zags this upcoming season, who added transfers Michael Ajayi and Khalif Battle to give the team much needed depth.
Now the team will once again rely more on Stromer to pick up the slack, while Tarleton State transfer Emmanuel Innocenti could see an uptick in playing time as well.