Former Creighton PG Ryan Nembhard transferring to Gonzaga

Former Creighton point guard Ryan Nembhard, ESPN's No. 2 player in the NCAA transfer portal, has committed to play at Gonzaga next season, he told ESPN on Friday.

Nembhard is considered one of the top point guards returning to college basketball and will immediately be a contender for WCC player of the year honors, providing the Zags a huge boost as they transition out of the Drew Timme era.

The 2021 Big East freshman of the year, Nembhard averaged 12.1 points, 4.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game, shooting 36% for 3 this season. He has started every game in his two-year college career, making back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances and losing to national championship finalists San Diego State 57-56 this season in the Elite Eight on a controversial foul call.

Nembhard said he couldn't point to any single factor that led him to transfer, a move that surprised some considering the amount of success his team enjoyed the past two years.

«It wasn't any one thing,» Nembhard said. «My teammates are great people and we clearly were well-coached. We reached a level no other Creighton team achieved. I'm very happy for that and grateful for how the season evolved. That's really all I want to say about that.»

Nembhard picked Gonzaga over Arizona, Alabama and UCF.

Nembhard's brother, Andrew Nembhard, a decorated point guard himself, also transferred to Gonzaga (from Florida) after his sophomore season, helping propel the Zags to become the No. 1 offense in college basketball and eventually emerge as the No. 31 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.

«Of course my brother had been telling me for years what a great coach Mark [Few] was,» Ryan Nembhard said. «And it's obvious Andrew was well prepared for the NBA by Coach Few and all the staff at Gonzaga