Arizona after South Dakota grad transfer Matt Mooney

The 6-foot-3 guard averaged 18.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists this season

The Arizona Wildcats have been connected to just about every graduate transfer on the market, so let’s add another one to their never-ending list.

Arizona has reached out to South Dakota Coyotes grad transfer Matt Mooney, according to Jeff Borzello of ESPN.

A 6-foot-3 guard, Mooney averaged 18.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists this season, helping South Dakota post a 26-9 record.

South Dakota's Matt Mooney has had Arizona State, Oregon, Iowa State, Texas Tech, Missouri, Northwestern, Memphis, TCU, Creighton, Nebraska, Indiana, Virginia and Arizona reach out to him as a potential grad transfer.

18.7 PPG this past season.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 6, 2018

The Chicago native, who is eligible to play immediately, spent one season at Air Force before transferring to South Dakota where he twice made the All-Summit League team.

Mooney started at the 2 and spent some time at both the 1 and the 3 this season, per KenPom. He was the Coyotes’ main playmaker, posting a team-high 30.3 usage percentage.

Mooney shot 45 percent from the field, 35 percent from 3, and 83 percent from the free-throw line this season.

His 2-point and 3-point shooting percentages were actually slightly better as a sophomore when he averaged 18.6 points per game.

South Dakota had the 16th-best defensive rating in college basketball this season (95.2) and that number improved to 94.3 when Mooney was on the floor.

He averaged a team-best 2.0 steals per game. He posted a defensive box plus-minus of 1.6, which was fourth on the team among players who played 800 minutes or more.

Mooney started in every game the last two seasons at South Dakota, and he would likely compete for a starting job with the Wildcats, who lost their entire starting lineup and return just six scholarship players. At minimum, he could provide shooting and scoring off the bench.

Other grad transfers Arizona has been connected to are:

• Pitt forward Ryan Luther
• Evansville wing Ryan Taylor
• Idaho State center Novak Topalovic
• Albany guard Joe Cremo
• Texas A&M Corpus Christi guard Ehab Amin
• Old Dominion center Trey Porter
• Fordham guard Joseph Chartouny
• Florida Gulf Coast guard Zach Johnson

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Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire

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