Arizona Marvelous Ideas: Former Arizona commit Jahvon Quinerly to transfer from Villanova

Villanova was his second choice for a reason

Former Arizona Wildcats commit Jahvon Quinerly is out at Villanova after one season, as the program announced Wednesday that he has opted to transfer.

“We had a very candid meeting and Jahvon has decided to transfer to another program,” Villanova head coach Jay Wright said in a press release. “We’ll miss Jahvon. He’s been an outstanding teammate and was an integral part of our success last season. We wish him the best as he approaches the next step in his basketball career.”

The former five-star recruit only played 9.1 minutes per game as a freshman, averaging 3.2 points and 0.9 assists on 32 percent shooting.

Quinerly’s decision to leave Villanova comes as no surprise. In December, after Quinerly played one minute in a loss to Penn, he frustratingly posted on social media that Villanova was his “second choice for a reason.”

Quinerly later apologized and said he would work to regain Villanova’s trust, though evidently he never warmed up to the school.

The New Jersey native was a top-30 recruit and No. 7 point guard in the country coming out of Hudson Catholic in 2018.

Quinerly committed to Arizona in August of 2017, but backed off when media reports linked him and Arizona in the federal investigation into college basketball.

For that reason, it’s doubtful Arizona will pursue Quinerly as a transfer, though he would fit nicely on the court, seeing that he could take over the point guard position once incoming freshman Nico Mannion inevitably leaves for the NBA.

Quinerly will have to sit out a season before having three years of eligibility at his new school.