Thursday, March 26, 2020

Pac-12 basketball roundup: Washington and USC add transfers, Onyeka Okongwu declares for NBA Draft

NCAA BASKETBALL: APR 02 NIT Semifinal - Lipscomb v Wichita State Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

A look around the league

It turns out Erik Stevenson will transfer to a Pac-12 program; just not the Arizona Wildcats.

The former Wichita State guard committed to the Washington Huskies on Tuesday, a homecoming for the Lacey, Washington native. The Wildcats were one of several teams that had reached out to him.

A stingy perimeter defender, Stevenson averaged 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game with the Shockers this season, shooting 37.7 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from 3.

He should have to sit out a season before having two years of eligibility but you never know with the NCAA and its unpredictable waiver process.

Here’s some of what our friends at UWDawgPound.com have to say about their newest acquisition (for all their thoughts, go here):

Stevenson gives the Huskies the lead guard comfortable running an offense that they were missing for much of this past season once Quade Green went out. He is absolutely a shooting guard rather than a point or combo guard but Stevenson is comfortable with the ball in his hands. He took 26% of his team’s shots while on the floor last season. Jaylen Nowell took 25.9% of Washington’s shots in his sophomore season when he won Pac-12 player of the year.

For a list of Arizona’s transfer targets, go here.


USC adds Santa Clara grad transfer

Another Pac-12 school plucked talent from the transfer portal, with the USC Trojans adding Santa Clara guard Tahj Eaddy, who just averaged 9.1 PPG this season while shooting 41 percent from the field and 33 percent from 3.

The year before, he averaged 15.0 PPG while shooting 38 percent from 3, so there could be quite a bit of upside there if he can recapture his old form.

Here is what they had to say about him on USCFootball.com:

Eaddy is a versatile shooting guard that can attack the basket, shoot the three and create for his teammates. In USC’s offensive system that relies on floor spacing and attacking off the dribble, Eaddy could be used in a variety of ways as a creator or a benefactor of the creation guards like Ethan Anderson or Elijah Weaver produce.

Meanwhile, USC lost guard Kyle Sturdivant to the transfer portal. The former three-star guard averaged 8.3 minutes per game and 2.0 points this past season.

Okongwu declares for the NBA Draft

In more USC news, freshman Onyeka Okongwu declared for the NBA Draft, which is no surprise as many mock drafts project he will be selected in the Top 5.

The big man made the All-Pac-12 First Team after averaging 16.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 1.2 steals, though he lost the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year award to Zeke Nnaji.

The Trojans will have a lot of new faces next season, also losing starters Jonah Mathews, Nick Rakocevic, and Daniel Utomi to graduation.

One of those new faces will be No. 2 overall prospect Evan Mobley, whose brother Isaiah was a freshman this season. Those two could form quite the frontcourt duo, as both are McDonald’s All-Americans.



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