‘Coming home.’ Pepperdine transfer, top WCC scorer Michael Ajayi announces commitment to Gonzaga
The West Coast Conference’s top scorer will join forces with the program responsible for all but three of the conference’s regular-season championships since 1999.
Pepperdine transfer Michael Ajayi, who averaged a conference-leading 17.1 points per game during a prolific junior season for the Waves, announced a commitment to Gonzaga on Tuesday.
Ajayi, who was reportedly planning to take official visits to Gonzaga and Ole Miss, revealed his decision on Instagram.
Below a photoshopped image of Ajayi wearing a white No. 1 Gonzaga uniform, Ajayi posted a caption that read, “Coming home… Go Zags!!!”
Ajayi’s announcement comes less than 24 hours before Gonzaga is scheduled to leave for Detroit, where the Bulldogs will be making their ninth consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16 on Friday against top-seeded Purdue (4:39 p.m. , TBS).
A Kent, Washington, native, Ajayi played at Pierce College in Tacoma before signing with Pepperdine last summer and becoming one of the WCC’s breakout performers, earning all-conference first-team honors during his first Division I basketball season.
A dynamic wing player who’s considered to have NBA upside, Ajayi had the WCC’s top scoring average while posting a higher 3-point shooting clip (47.0%) than overall field-goal percentage (46.7%). Ajayi finished second in the WCC in rebounding, averaging 9.9 boards per game, only second to 6-foot-8 San Francisco forward Jonathan Mogbo.
The 6-7 Ajayi had a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double, making 3 of 15 shots from the field during an 86-60 loss to Gonzaga at the Arena and had six points to go with three rebounds when the Bulldogs faced the Waves roughly two weeks later at Firestone Fieldhouse in Malibu, California.
Ajayi scored at least 20 points on 11 occasions this season and hit 30 twice, recording 31 points and 12 rebounds in a nonconference loss to UNLV before posting a 30-point, 17-rebound double-double on Feb. 21 in an 89-70 WCC win against Pacific.
As of Tuesday, Ajayi was one of seven Pepperdine players to have entered the transfer portal since the school fired coach Lorenzo Romar. That group included two other all-conference players in forward Jevon Porter and guard Houston Mallette, who recently committed to Alabama.
Aside from fifth-year senior forward Anton Watson, the Zags are eligible to return every player on their 2023-24 roster, including three all-conference performers in point guard Ryan Nembhard, forward Graham Ike and guard Nolan Hickman.
If Gonzaga’s able to return a majority of the team’s rotation next season, the addition of Ajayi could help push the Bulldogs into the top 10 of preseason polls. According to On3.com, the Pepperdine wing was college basketball’s seventh-rated transfer as of Tuesday, sitting behind Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud, Rutgers’ Cliff Omoruyi, Stanford’s Kanaan Carlyle, Harvard’s Malik Mack, USC’s Kobe Johnson and Oklahoma State’s Brandon Garrison.