On Thursday night, news broke that freshman Mario Kegler intends to request his release and transfer from the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Reports on Friday indicate that Kegler is not the only one who will be leaving Starkville this offseason.
Former four-star recruit Eli Wright, a rising sophomore shooting guard, also intends to transfer from the program. Like Thursday’s news regarding Kegler, Scout.com’s Evan Daniels was first to report:
Eli Wright just asked Mississippi State for a release to transfer, per his AAU coach.
— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) May 26, 2017
The report was later corroborated by the Clarion-Ledger’s Will Sammon:
can confirm that Eli Wright is looking to transfer from Mississippi State.
— Will Sammon (@WillSammon) May 26, 2017
In 30 games played last year, Wright averaged 3.5 points and 1.6 rebounds per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field. KenPom.com had him under the ‘Limited roles’ section, logging only 12.4 percent of possessions that State had a season ago.
Among freshmen on the team, only E.J. Datcher had a lower possession% than Wright, so it’s perhaps possible that playing time has something to do with this.
Wright becomes the fourth player in the last year to request their release from Mississippi State, joining Kegler, Malik Newman, who landed with the Kansas Jayhawks and 2017 recruit Garrison Brooks. Brooks had committed and then decommitted in April, eventually landing with the North Carolina Tar Heels.