After going through Senior Day ceremonies last month at McKale Center, Arizonaβs Terrell Brown Jr. and Ira Lee may not be leaving college basketball after all.
Theyβre just leaving the Wildcats.
Brown retweeted a Verbal Commits report Wednesday that he is entering the transfer portal. The former Wildcat is the third player named Terrell Brown to enter the portal, joining former Pitt forward/center Terrell Brown and former Robert Morris guard Terrell Brown.
Lee, who announced immediately after the Wildcatsβ game on March 1 that his UA career was over, is also listed in the Verbal Commits transfer portal database. However, he not indicated anything publicly.
Brown and Lee have played four seasons of college basketball already, but the NCAA decided not to count this season against four-year eligibility clocks β allowing them a fifth year if they wanted it.
Both have reasons to use that year seeking resume-polishing experiences elsewhere.
Brown was likely facing another sixth-man type of role at Arizona, especially if James Akinjo, Jemarl Baker and Kerr Kriisa all return to next season. The leading scorer in the WAC during the 2019-20 season at Seattle U, Brown averaged 25.6 minutes but just 7.3 points this season with the Wildcats.
Brown took over a starting role when Baker broke his wrist on Jan. 9, but later relinquished it to Kriisa, who began starting on Feb. 11 against Oregon State and continued starting the rest of the season except for against Washington on Senior Day. In that Feb. 27 game, Brown started 1 for 11 and missed all six 3-pointers he took.
βIn some ways, he might have wanted to play too well tonight,β UA coach Sean Miller said after that game. βThis is his final home game, at least this season, and he was honored before the game. I think itβs the first time his family has actually been able to see him play live. And I never really saw him relax out there.β
Leeβs playing time and production dropped this season to numbers comparable to his freshman season of 2017-18. He was the fourth player rotating into two post spots behind Azuolas Tubelis, Jordan Brown and Christian Koloko, averaging 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds over an average of 10.4 minutes a game.
Lee played less than eight minutes in each of his final seven games, including just four after receiving a Senior Day start on Feb. 27.
Both Lee and Brown were noncommittal about their future as the season neared its end, and an effort to reach them before the Feb. 27 game was unsuccessful.
Brown did not return a text message seeking comment Wednesday. The last time he was available for comment, after the Wildcats beat Washington State on Feb. 25, Brown was asked where he was in the decision-making process about next season.
βUm, we play Washington at noon on Saturday and Oregon on Monday,β Brown said. βThatβs where Iβm focusing.β
Arizonaβs coaches had made it clear they wanted Brown to return.
βWhat we told him is heβs given us all heβs had, but we havenβt given him everything we have to offer,β assistant coach Jason Terry said.
βWhen you talk about McKale Center and going on the road in the Pac-12, heβs really been cheated out of the experience of playing at a school like Arizona. I witnessed it. I lived it. And thatβs really why I wanted him to come here.β
Terry, who is also Brownβs godfather, noted the day before that Washington game that βI would love Terrell to come back and have two Senior Days.β
The decisions of Lee and Brown wonβt affect Arizonaβs scholarship situation, since fourth-year players who return were not subject to the 13-player scholarship maximum anyway.
As of now, the Wildcats are one over the limit, with 11 returning players plus three fall signees. All their signees are all guards, meaning the UA likely needs one more post player. Akinjo, a point guard, is expected to at least test the NBA Draft waters.
On Wednesday afternoon, Arizona posted pictures of five returning players working out during a postseason practice: Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry, Koloko, Tubelis and Jordan Brown.
Above the photos, UA tweeted: βBack in the lab.β
