Arizona declined to comment late Monday on a 247Sports.com report that sophomore forward Emmanuel Akot has quit the Wildcats and will transfer next season.

Akot could not be reached for comment. His high school coach, Curtis Condie, said Monday that he didn’t know if Akot was leaving. Akot would be the second Wildcat to leave the program this season. Belgian freshman Omar Thielemans left the team in October, and has since enrolled at Wright State.Β 

Akot could play at another school next season, after the fall semester ends, if he were to leave the UA immediately and enroll somewhere else. However, 247Sports.com said Akot plans to finish out this semester at Arizona and transfer afterward. That would leave Akot with two full seasons of college eligibility remaining, but he’d have to sit out all of the 2019-20 season as a transfer.

MORE: Sean Miller confirms Emmanuel Akot quit Wildcats after Bay Area trip

Arriving in 2017 from Winnipeg, Manitoba via Utah’s Wasatch Academy, Akot possessed a four-star rating and a versatile skillset. He never found a consistent role at Arizona. He spent much of his freshman season battling knee tendinitis, and didn’t emerge as the defensive stopper coach Sean Miller said he could become.

Miller put Akot in the starting lineup after this season’s trip to the Maui Invitational in a move to help his confidence β€” and give the Wildcats extra shooting off the bench in former starter Ryan Luther β€” but Akot’s per-minute contributions remained similar.

Over 17 games this season, Akot averaged 3.8 points and 2.8 rebounds while playing an average of 19.3 minutes per game. As a bench player in the previous six games, he averaged 2.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and played 16.7 minutes per game.

Having Akot β€œstarting the game gives us a different look β€” we have another ball-handler on the court, we have almost another wing player to defend,” Miller said of the move in early December. β€œI’m gonna say we’re a little bit quicker, a little more fluid in terms of multiple ball-handlers.”

But Akot may have faced an uphill battle to earn more playing time the rest of this season, and next. On Wednesday, sophomore reserve Ira Lee made several critical plays in the final minute to spark UA’s 75-70 win at Stanford. Miller said on Friday he wanted Lee to play more often, especially alongside starting center Chase Jeter.

Akot scored two points on 1-for-4 shooting with three rebounds at Stanford, then posted six points and three rebounds in 23 minutes on Saturday at Cal.

Next season, UA is bringing in well-regarded forwards Terry Armstrong and Zeke Nnaji, along with five-star guards Nico Mannion and Josh Green.

Check out photos from Akot's brief Arizona career:Β 

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe