Jacobi Gordon to Transfer from Men's Hoops Team
Small forward Jacobi Gordon announced today via social media he will be transferring from Cal’s men’s basketball team. A 6-7 former three- or four-star recruit, depending on the recruiting service, Gordon has missed the majority of the 2019-2020 season thanks to an injury. The sophomore from Houston hasn’t played since logging a minute in the Pac-12 opener at Stanford.
In total, Gordon’s averaged 2.2 points and 1.2 rebounds in just under nine minutes per game in the 12 games in which he’s played this season. As a freshman, he averaged 2.4 points and 1.8 rebounds in 10 minutes per game. Gordon played 24 games as a freshman and missed all of the final four games.
Coming out of high school, Gordon was considered one of the better small forwards/wings in the country and held offers from Oklahoma, Oregon, University of Connecticut, Creighton, Iowa State, Baylor, Arkansas, and many other solid programs. But an Achilles Tendon injury derailed the entirety of his senior year and seemed to linger into his freshman year at Cal. Gordon hit double-digits for minutes in four of the first five games this season, but saw his minutes decrease.
While it’s always a bummer when it doesn’t work out between a program and an athlete, this transfer is not surprising. Gordon never really cracked the rotation consistently and with Grant Anticevich, Kuany Kuany, Juhwan Harris-Dyson, and D. J. Thorpe, the three- and four-positions are getting crowded. It was tough to see a path for Gordon to log more minutes, especially considering his injury continues to be an issue.
The departure opens up another scholarship for Mark Fox and his staff. So far Fox has signed two 6-6 wings in Jalen Celestine and Monty Bowser. With Kareem South, Paris Austin, and Gordon now set to leave — and with the extra scholarship banked from last season — Cal has two open slots to hold or use this spring or summer.
Cal is actively recruiting Class of 2020 guards Tyrin Lawrence (6-4, Sunrise Christian in Wichita), Kerwin Walton (6-5, Hopkins, Minnesota), and Devin Carter (6-4, Miami). The Bears could also mine the grad transfer market or wait to see about transfers or 2020 Class members asking out of national letters of intent after the annual coaching carousel from terminations.
Despite recruiting combo guards and wings, Cal could certainly use an experienced ball-handler and perhaps a frontcourt player. We’ll continue to track what Fox and staff do on the recruiting trail, especially after the season concludes.