SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga has won 742 games on the court in coach Mark Few’s 26 seasons.
Put the Bulldogs down for a victory in court.
Forward Tyon Grant-Foster was granted a preliminary injunction Monday by Spokane County (Wash.) Judge Marla Polin, making him eligible to play for the 21st-ranked Bulldogs this season after the NCAA had denied Grant-Foster’s appeal for an eligibility waiver.
“In my opinion, justice was served,” Few said. “… I know it’s a hard situation for the NCAA with all these waivers that happen to be out there. But listen, I’ve never seen one as unique as this.”
Grant-Foster, 25, who was a member of the high school class of 2018, played two seasons at Indian Hills Community College in Iowa before transferring to Kansas for the 2020-21 season. After appearing in 22 games for the Jayhawks, he left for DePaul.
But at halftime of the Blue Demons’ 2021-22 season opener, Grant-Foster collapsed in the locker room and was rushed to the hospital. He underwent multiple heart surgeries and missed the next two seasons.
“I mean, he literally died — his heart stopped not once but twice,” Few said. “And he didn’t have two years of basketball. He’s put everything into basketball. It means the world to him.”
Grant-Foster made a comeback at Grand Canyon in 2023-24, being named the Western Athletic Conference’s Player of the Year as he averaged 20.1 points and 6.1 rebounds and led the Antelopes to their first NCAA Tournament victory.
He had 14.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game last season before deciding to transfer to Gonzaga.
The NCAA determined Grant-Foster’s two years at the junior-college level and two at Grand Canyon had exhausted his eligibility, which led to the court case. Grant-Foster’s lawyers argued a blanket waiver given to former junior-college transfers in December 2024 gave him another year.
Come Monday, the judge agreed in a hearing that lasted nearly three hours.
After the decision, Few and Grant-Foster headed straight for McCarthey Athletic Center on campus, where the Bulldogs were playing an exhibition against Western Oregon.
“It was tough turnaround there with how it all transpired,” Few said. “Tyon and I rushed down here and got him semi-warmed up, and got him out there on the floor. But the reaction in the locker room was priceless, it’s something I’ll never forget. They were already dressed and ready to go by the time we got here.”
Few said being in the courtroom to support Grant-Foster — along with several of his teammates, though they had to leave before the verdict to get ready for tip-off — was a “no-brainer.”
“He’s family,” Few said. “He’s one of our guys and it’s just kind of how we roll around here.”
Grant-Foster played nine minutes in the exhibition and scored four points.
“I can go to sleep now,” Grant-Foster said after Gonzaga’s 111-53 victory.
The 6-foot-7 Grant-Foster was one of three Bulldogs to make CBS Sports’ ranking of the top 101 players nationally. He was listed at No. 70, behind Graham Ike (No. 20) and ahead of Braden Huff (No. 78), a pair of potential frontcourt mates.
Gonzaga, which will be playing its final season in the West Coast Conference before joining the reconstructed Pac-12 next year, has some questions in the backcourt after the graduation of longtime starters Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman.
What the Bulldogs might lack in experience at the guard positions, they hope to make up for with depth.
“When I was practicing, every day it was a different guy,” Grant-Foster said. “I feel like that’s the way we’re going to be better and deal with different teams on different days.”
–Gene Warnick, Field Level Media