Before Isiah Harwell committed to the Gonzaga Bulldogs from the transfer portal, Houston Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson talked about his development before his freshman season tipped off.
Sampson shared how struggling it was for the Cougars to develop Harwell, given his injury concerns and torn ACL, giving the Houston coaching staff little time to work on him. He also shared his best wishes for the freshman and the team who gets him from the transfer portal.
“I think the thing that hurt Isaiah was we never got a chance to develop him because he had no June, he had no July, he had no August and he tore his ACL and then had complications from it,” Sampson said. “He got, he re-injured it during the McDonald’s game and that game I think was in April so basically he was out May through September.
“September is when practice started and so we felt like Isaiah would have a great chance to be in a rotation. Unfortunately, he was not available when we were having our toughest practices early. John Houston and Alan were spending a lot of time with him with his knee, but whoever gives Isaiah is getting a great kid and there’s a really, really good player in there too.”
In his freshman season with the Cougars, Isiah Harwell played 32 games, averaging 13.8 minutes per game in a reserve role off the bench. The freshman averaged 3.6 points and 2.0 rebounds per game, shooting 27.1% from beyond the arc. Though the numbers look below average, there were times when Harwell really showed what he’s capable of. In the win over Jackson State in December, he scored 20 points and collected four rebounds.
Isiah Harwell Potentially Replacing Braeden Smith at Gonzaga
Isiah Harwell appears to have been brought in by Gonzaga after they lost guard Braeden Smith to the transfer portal. Smith had only one season remaining after averaging 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 17.1 minutes per game across 35 games. He shot 46.7%, including 33.3% from beyond the arc.
Before coming to Gonzaga, Smith played two seasons at Colgate, starting all 70 games. He redshirted in the 2024-25 season after joining the Bulldogs.
With Gonzaga, Harwell is expecting a featured role with good minutes. He could get that kind of role if he impresses during practice sessions of the Bulldogs before his sophomore season.
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