May 26—More than a month after landing a commitment from Isiah Harwell, Gonzaga has locked in the Houston transfer with a financial aid agreement, according to a news release on Tuesday.
Harwell was the first player to commit to Gonzaga this offseason, and becomes the second to ink a binding agreement with the school, following Arizona State’s Massamba Diop, who signed with Mark Few’s program on May 5.
The sophomore guard has been on Gonzaga’s radar for a handful of years, since he transformed into a five-star prospect at Century High School in his hometown of Pocatello, Idaho, then over three years at Utah-based prep school Wasatch Academy.
Harwell transfers to Gonzaga after going through ups and downs during his freshman season at Houston, where he appeared in 32 games and averaged 13.8 minutes but slipped out of the team’s backcourt rotation toward the end of the season, playing just seven total minutes in NCAA Tournament games against Idaho and Texas A&M.
For the season, Harwell averaged 3.6 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists while shooting 27.9% from the field, 27.1% from the 3-point line and 61.3% from the free -throw line.
The struggles Harwell encountered last season could be related to the ACL injury he suffered during his senior year at Wasatch, sidelining him for summer workouts at Houston and impacting the early stages of his freshman year with the Cougars.
“I think the thing that hurt Isiah was we never got a chance to develop him because he had no June, he had no July, he had no August,” Houston’s Kelvin Sampson told local reporters during a Zoom call in April. “He tore his ACL and then had complications from it. He reinjured it during the McDonald’s (All-American) Game. Basically he was out May through September.
“September is when practice started, so we felt like Isiah would have a great chance to be in the rotation. Unfortunately he was not available when we were having our toughest practices early.”
Harwell initially entered the NBA draft after committing to Gonzaga but withdrew his name before he was scheduled to appear at the G League Combine in Chicago.
The guard is expected to play a key role in Gonzaga’s backcourt, which recently grew thinner when Germany’s Jack Kayil announced he’d be keeping his name in the Draft rather than joining Few’s roster next season.
Harwell, a 6-foot-6 guard expected to play the 2 or 3 at Gonzaga, and returning point guard Mario Saint-Supery, are the only true guards on the team’s roster entering 2026-27.
