EUGENE, Oreg. (AP) — Head coach Dana Altman and the Oregon men’s basketball program has landed a huge graduate transfer that will position the Ducks as one of the favorites to win the Pac-12 regular-season championship this upcoming season.
Shakur Juiston, a 6-foot-7 forward from UNVL, has committed to Oregon basketball.
Juiston averaged 14.6 points and 10 rebounds per game as a junior during the 2017-18 season at UNLV. This past season, Juiston played just eight games because of a lingering injury and averaged 10.8 points and 8.8 rebounds.
The 6-foot-7, 220-pound forward from Newark, New Jersey was ranked as the No. 1 junior college prospect by 247Sports coming out of Hutchinson Community College in the 2018 recruiting class.
For the first time in an offseason, ESPN.com ranked the immediately eligible transfers in college basketball. This year, Shakur Juiston has ranked as the third-best graduate transfer available this offseason.
Juiston is expected to compete right away for a starting spot at either center, power forward, or small forward. He will be eligible to play right away.
Earlier this offseason, the Ducks also landed graduate transfer Anthony Mathis from New Mexico to help at shooting guard. The Ducks now hold the No. 3 and the No. 20th ranked immediate eligible transfers for this offseason, according to ESPN.com’s rankings.
When Juiston started his career at UNLV, he instantly made an impact for the Running Rebels and started all 33 games. He was named to the second-team All-Mountain West and averaged an impressive double-double per game. He led the Rebels in shooting percentage at 63.9 percent, which was is fifth all-time in a single season at UNLV. Juiston was also third on the team in assists with 1.9 per game.
Playing junior college at Hutchinson Community College, Juiston earned the NABC Junior College Player of the Year honors for the 2017 season. He led the school to a national championship and averaged 17.3 points and 12.1 rebounds per game. He also averaged 3.9 assists and 1.8 blocked shots per game.
Oregon has had an interesting offseason. Projected to be a top 10 team following their Sweet 16 run this past season, the Ducks saw freshmen Bol Bol and Louis King, plus sophomore Kenny Wooten declare for the NBA Draft and elect to stay in the draft. Sophomore Victor Bailey Jr. and freshman Miles Norris also departed. The Ducks had just three scholarship players set to return from last year’s team (Senior Payton Pritchard, sophomores Will Richardson and Francis Okoro) to go with a Top 15 recruiting class headlined by five-star forward CJ Walker and the 2019 JUCO Player of the Year and No. 1 ranked JUCO prospect, Chris Duarte. Dana Altman added the transfer of Anthony Mathis, while also adding high school forward Löl Wur – a 6-foot-9 forward who played his prep basketball in Nebraska – to the roster. Altman also added two transfers who won’t be eligible this upcoming season in wing Eric Williams Jr. and forward Eugene Omoruyi.