Gonzaga winger Steele Venters out for the rest of the season due to Achilles tendon injury

Gonzaga winger Steele Venters has suffered a season-ending injury for the second year in a row.

Venters will miss the 2024-25 season due to a left Achilles tendon injury, Gonzaga confirmed in a press release Tuesday.

“We are heartbroken for Steele,” said GU head coach Mark Few. “He has worked so hard to come back from his knee injury. We will continue to support Steele throughout his healing process and know he will come back better and stronger.”

Venters went down with a torn ACL in his right knee during a rebounding drill last November, just days before the 2023-24 season opener against Yale.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound Venters, listed as a redshirt junior, was reportedly on track to return for the upcoming season before re-injuring himself. He was seen in photo and video posts from GU Basketball on X at the team's summer workouts. It is unknown to what extent he was able to participate in practices or when he sustained the Achilles injury.

Venters transferred to Gonzaga after being named Big Sky Conference MVP by Eastern Washington following the 2022-23 season. He also tested the NBA Draft during the spring and summer before deciding to return to college basketball.

He was set to start for the Zags last season before he tore his ACL. Freshman Dusty Stromer moved into the starting lineup until Gonzaga reshuffled its starting lineup in January, with Ben Gregg replacing Stromer. Gonzaga used a frontcourt with Gregg, Anton Watson and Graham Ike in the starting lineup for the final 19 games of the season.

“I've mostly come to terms with it now,” Venters told The Spokesman-Review last January. “Now I just try to cheer the guys on. … It's tough sitting out there watching these guys play basketball, especially knowing I could be helping them.”

Venter's role this season was not yet determined, but he likely would have played a key role in the rotation. Pepperdine transfer Michael Ajayi, a 6-foot-4 forward, was considered by many to replace Watson in the starting lineup.

Gonzaga has one of its strongest rosters with several options at the wing/small forward position, including Ajayi, the 6-foot-10 Stromer, 6-foot-5 transfers Khalif Battle (Arkansas) and Emmanuel Innocenti (Tarleton State), and 6-foot-8 junior Jun Seok Yeo, who saw little playing time last season.

Ajayi, Yeo and the 6-foot-10 Gregg are versatile enough to play the 3 or 4, and Gregg has already spent time at the 5.

Venters, an Ellensburg native, came to EWU as a walk-on and redshirted in 2019-20. He came off the bench in 17 games during the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season, averaging 9.6 minutes and 3.6 points.

His best season statistically came as a redshirt sophomore. Venters was selected to the All-Big Sky second team and averaged 16.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.2 assists. He made 43.4% of his 3-pointers, ranking sixth nationally.

Venters has not played in an official game since EWU's second-round NIT road loss to Oklahoma State in March 2023. He scored 27 points in the first-round NIT win over Washington State.

Venters played nearly 17 minutes in Gonzaga's Navy/White scrimmage game during “Kraziness in the Kennel” last October and about 18 minutes in an exhibition win over Lewis-Clark State College, seven days before beating Yale in last year's season opener.

In his sophomore and junior years, he started 67 of EWU's 68 games. His career averages as an Eagle were 13.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 50.7% shooting from beyond the three-point line, 40.3% shooting from 3-point range and 84.6% from the free throw line.