Gonzaga’s Tyon Grant-Foster Granted Additional Season of Eligibility

Gonzaga forward Tyon Grant-Foster has been granted a preliminary injunction by a Spokane County judge, allowing him to play for the Bulldogs this season.

Tyon Grant-Foster Transferred To Gonzaga

Grant-Foster, 25, applied for an eligibility waiver in early June shortly after transferring to Gonzaga from Grand Canyon University.

However, the NCAA had denied Grant-Foster’s appeal for an eligibility waiver earlier this month.

The NCAA considered Grant-Foster’s two years at Indian Hills and two years at Grand Canyon as his four years of eligibility.

Grant-Foster’s lawyers argued that the blanket waiver given to former junior college transfers in December 2024 gives him another year, per ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

Understandably emotional scene inside the courtroom as Tyon Grant-Foster gets the preliminary injunction granted, allowing him to play for #Gonzaga this season. pic.twitter.com/PrUt4SCY6Q

— Theo Lawson (@TheoLawson_SR) October 28, 2025

Tyon Grant-Foster on playing tonight:
“I’m just grateful. I want to give a shoutout to the coaching staff. I appreciate them. It was times it got hard and they could’ve moved on from this, but they never did. That’s a testament to this program. That’s why they’ve been so good.” pic.twitter.com/0wPmQ0KgfZ

— Andrew Quinn (@andrewquinny) October 28, 2025

“We’re just excited for Tyon,” Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford told The Spokesman-Review. “We believe this is the right verdict and he’s been through so much. Disappointed it wasn’t granted through the waiver process, we believe it should’ve been. So we’ll just move forward from here.”

Per Borzello, Grant-Foster went directly from the courthouse to Gonzaga’s exhibition game against Western Oregon, which started less than an hour after Judge Marla Polin’s ruling.

“I can sleep. I can go to sleep now,” Grant-Foster said at the postgame podium after the Bulldogs’ 111-53 victory over the Wolves. “And I jump higher. [Gonzaga teammate Adam Miller] told me that.”

Appeal Not Expected To Affect Gonzaga’s 2025-26 Season

If an appeal is filed by the NCAA, it likely won’t be reviewed by an appellate court for approximately a year, meaning this case will not impact Gonzaga’s 2025-26 season.

Simply put, this ruling is an automatic win for Grant-Foster.

“He’s just a remarkable young man that’s just resilient. He just keeps coming,” said Spokane civil rights attorney Carl Oreskovich, who argued on Grant-Foster’s behalf Monday along with North Carolina attorney Elliot Abrams.

“It’s been an emotional roller coaster for him. The times it looked like there’d be obstacles, he was tearful. Today you could see he was tearful again, but tears of happiness.”

Grant-Foster was originally a member of the high school class of 2018. He played two seasons at Indian Hills Community College before transferring to Kansas.

The 6-foot-7 wing played 22 games for the Jayhawks in 2020-2021 and then transferred to DePaul.

Grant-Foster Underwent Multiple Heart Surgeries

At halftime of the Blue Demons’ first game of the 2021-22 season, Grant-Foster collapsed in the locker room and was rushed to the hospital. He underwent multiple heart surgeries and missed the next 16 months.

Grant-Foster returned to the court at Grand Canyon for the 2023-24 season, winning WAC Player of the Year honors after averaging career highs of 20.1 points and 6.1 rebounds.

He led the Lopes to the NCAA Tournament and the program’s first NCAA Tournament win over Saint Mary’s.

In 26 games (17 starts) last season with Grand Canyon, he averaged 14.8 points, 5.9 rebounds, a career-high 2.1 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.5 blocks per contest with a shooting line of 39.9/23.2/68.6.

Grant-Foster is projected to start alongside preseason All-WCC first-teamers Graham Ike and Braden Huff.

No. 21 Gonzaga opens the regular season on Nov. 3 against Texas Southern.