Gonzaga Has A Huge Chance To Win Over A Priority Four-Star Guard

Gonzaga looks to woo Jalen Davis, a top recruit, with their electrifying home game atmosphere this weekend.

Gonzaga’s 2027 recruiting board already has one name locked in, but this weekend gives the Bulldogs a chance to make a bigger statement. Four-star combo guard Jalen Davis is set to visit Spokane on Nov. 7, and the timing lines up with Gonzaga’s 2026-27 home opener against Conference USA’s New Mexico State Aggies.

Davis, a 6-3 prospect from Bremerton, Washington, is one of the top backcourt targets on Mark Few’s board. He recently trimmed his list to four schools: Gonzaga, Washington, UCLA and North Carolina.

There’s no commitment date yet, but the official visits are stacking up. He was at Washington on Sept.

27, North Carolina on Oct. 3 and UCLA on Oct. 13 before heading to Gonzaga.

What makes Davis such a big prize is the production. The 18-year-old is a high-volume scorer who does most of his work off the ball, while also creating havoc in the passing lanes. As a junior at Bremerton High School, he earned Washington’s Gatorade Player of the Year award after putting up 31.5 points per game on 63.9 field goal percentage and 40.0 three-point percentage, along with 9.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 5.8 steals per contest.

He’s also been winning at a steady clip, helping Bremerton capture back-to-back WIAA Class 2A state championships in 2025 and 2026. He’ll be chasing a third straight title in his senior season.

Gonzaga’s 2027 class currently includes just one commit, four-star Dooney Johnson. The 6-7 point guard, originally from Milwaukee Juneau in Wisconsin, will spend his senior year at East River in Orlando, Florida.

Landing Davis would be a different kind of win. An in-state commitment from Kitsap County to go with Johnson would reshape what this program can look like over the next two seasons, and maybe beyond.

The Kennel has a reputation for making recruits feel like they belong, and the student section usually does its part by chanting names and turning visits into an experience. But Davis is a bigger swing, and Gonzaga will need the building at its loudest to give itself a real shot at keeping him home. That urgency only grows after the Bulldogs missed out on 2027 four-star wing Gene Roebuck III of La Mirada, California, to the California Golden Bears.

There’s also the simple boost of the setting itself. This will be the first home game of 2026-27, the first real look fans will get at this version of the Zags, and the atmosphere should be at its peak even if the opponent is a non-conference mid-major that won’t draw much attention on its own.

In Other News...

Gonzaga Built A Season-Opening Streak Fans Still Shouldn't Take For Granted

Season openers have become a quiet point of pride around Gonzaga, a reminder that the program has spent more than two decades treating November like a place to make a statement. The Bulldogs have won 23 straight season openers, a run that stretches back to the early days of Mark Fews tenure and includes memorable starts against the likes of Idaho and Kansas, along with more recent wins that have kept the streak alive.

Fews scheduling approach has helped shape that reality, too, as Gonzaga has increasingly used its first game to test itself against bigger-name opposition rather than easing into the year. It is part of why the opener still carries real weight for this program, even if the streak itself can make it easy to overlook how hard it is to keep extending it. [Read more 🡒]

Braden Huffs Slow Start Is Suddenly Worth Watching For Gonzaga

The opening night win over Purdue gave Gonzaga plenty to like, with Davis Fogle, Xaivian Lee and Izan Almansa carrying much of the scoring load in the 78-72 victory. But Braden Huffs return from injury was one of the more interesting developments tucked inside the result, because the big mans line suggested both rust and promise in the same breath.

Huff finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, and Mark Few singled out the defensive work as a positive even while the shot was not falling cleanly. For Gonzaga, that makes Huff worth watching early in the season - not just for what he scores, but for how quickly he settles back into the rhythm of a frontcourt that already looked productive against a quality opponent. [Read more 🡒]