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# Chauncey Wiggins' Georgia Case Stayed, Gonzaga's Roster Remains in Eligibility Limbo
- URL: https://www.emeraldcityspectrum.com/chauncey-wiggins-georgia-case-stayed-gonzaga-bulldogs-eligibility-limbo/
- Published: 2026-09-11T21:51:56.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T21:51:56.000Z
- Author: Howard Woodard
- Tags: News, Analysis, Gonzaga Men's Basketball, Chauncey Wiggins, Javon Bennett, Gonzaga

On back-to-back days in early August, the Gonzaga Bulldogs received commitments from two 5-in-5 players, Dayton transfer Javon Bennett and Florida State transfer Chauncey Wiggins.

However, a couple of weeks after Bennett committed to the Zags, the Tenth Circuit granted the NCAA’s stay request in an Ohio case that included Bennett, deeming him ineligible to return to college basketball. The same has now happened to Wiggins, who is part of a Georgia lawsuit that recently had its preliminary injunction stayed by the state’s Court of Appeals, also making Wiggins temporarily ineligible.

With the personnel losses GU has endured this offseason, Wiggins and Bennett are expected to play pivotal roles on the roster as the Bulldogs’ starting small forward and backup point guard, respectively. But a long eligibility waiting game for these two and other Gonzaga commits lingers, as a definitive resolution for older players in college basketball has still not been identified.

The players in the Ohio lawsuit were the first to receive clearance, with Bennett and 23 other student-athletes receiving preliminary injunctions back on July 9\. Then, a Colorado judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction for the Class of 2022 three weeks later, momentarily granting all graduated seniors a fifth and final year of eligibility. But attempting to halt the rapid player influx, the NCAA requested stays in both cases, and the Ohio and sweeping *Wisne v. NCAA* lawsuits were each paused by the Courts of Appeals last month. Those rulings left Bennett ineligible once again.

Now, the Georgia case has been stayed like the ones in Colorado and Ohio, also keeping Wiggins from officially joining the Zags. Currently, Xaivian Lee, Gonzaga’s projected starting point guard, is the only other 5-in-5 GU commit who is eligible, with the California case he’s involved in being granted a temporary restraining order. The NCAA doesn’t have a 100% hit rate on their stay requests, with a Tennessee court rejecting their appeal in late August, so Lee’s case could remain in the clear before the regular season starts.

An open spot persists on the Bulldogs’ roster after Skylar Wicks decommitted, but it will be interesting to see how they fill it. Unless the eligibility saga is resolved sometime soon, the uncertainty of another fifth-year player may not be worth the hassle for Gonzaga. That doesn’t mention the unknown statuses of Izan Almansa and Nathan De Sousa, who each have professional experience as international recruits and are still eligible despite committing to the Zags before July.

Although Bennett’s role as a secondary facilitator is valuable, Wiggins’ skillset was a much-needed addition for the Zags. The 6-10 forward brings significant size and shooting to the rotation after knocking down 38% of his 3-point tries last season. That would’ve been the second-highest mark on Gonzaga, only behind Mario Saint-Supéry, who is no longer on the team. Over the last two seasons, GU has posted the worst shooting numbers from beyond the arc during head coach Mark Few’s tenure.

Despite being listed at a similar height to his new teammates Braden Huff, Massamba Diop, and Almansa, Wiggins plays much more like an oversized guard, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he ended the season with the best three-point shooting mark on the team.

Last season with the Seminoles, Wiggins logged his highest usage rate (20%), best overall shooting efficiency (60.2% true shooting), and top success rates inside the arc (both on two-pointers made and free-throw attempts). He doesn’t use his outlier length like former Bulldog Tyon Grant-Foster in terms of consistent rim pressure, but Wiggins certainly improved in that area as a senior. That trait’s growth only supplements his impressive shooting, which translates both off the catch and on movement.

By inserting Wiggins into the starting five, he, Lee (6-3), Huff (6-10), Diop (7-1), and Davis Fogle (6-7) make Gonzaga’s best lineup an average height of 6-8 and a half. Compare that to last year’s team with Huff, Saint-Supéry (6-3), Graham Ike (6-9), Adam Miller (6-3), and Emmanuel Innocenti (6-5); the 2026 squad beats them by two and a half inches. That would’ve been the tallest team in college basketball, with Illinois taking the crown at just under 6-7 on average. And 6-10 Almansa and 6-6 Houston transfer Isiah Harwell can’t be forgotten as options off the bench for the Zags.

So in addition to the versatile floor spacing Wiggins provides, he also gives GU the ability to create a true nightmare matchup for opposing teams as the biggest team in the country. Unfortunately, because of Wiggins’ eligibility now being put on hold, the Bulldogs will have to wait for that dream to officially become a reality.

Oral arguments in the Ohio case were set for Sep. 22 by the Court of Appeals, so Bennett’s situation will likely have an answer in a couple of weeks and could set the precedent for the others. For now, Gonzaga’s roster still has obstacles to clear before it is officially completed, and Wiggins and Bennett are two huge components to the program’s ceiling this season.