Portal things are happening!
With four scholarships available for next season, Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball is ramping up its efforts of pursuing players from the transfer portal.
This week Arizona is officially hosting a visit from Campbell graduate transfer Cedric Henderson Jr., a 6-foot-6, 190 pound guard, according to WildcatAuthority.
Henderson Jr. averaged 14points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists for the Fighting Camels last season and shot 49.8 percent from the field. He was named a second-team All-Big South Conference selection.
Henderson Jr. is a career 52.3 percent shooter, making one of the most reliable scoring guards in the transfer portal. His 3-point shooting improved to 38 percent in 2021-2022, up from 26.7% the season prior.
The Memphis native joined Campbell in 2019-20 after beginning his career at Southwest Tennessee Community College.
Henderson Jr. comes from a basketball lineage. His father, Cedric Henderson, played five seasons in the NBA including four for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Given his size, Henderson Jr. would help fill in the gap left by the departure of Dalen Terry to the NBA Draft. He would undoubtedly face a learning curve playing at the Power 5 level, but he’s shown he can compete against top teams. In Campbell’s early-season loss to Duke last year, Henderson Jr. scored 18 points and recorded 11 rebounds.
Henderson Jr. is not the only guard Arizona is after in the portal.
Texas graduate transfer Courtney Ramey is down to West Virginia and Arizona, per Ethan Bock of The Portal Report.
Sources are telling me that Texas transfer Courtney Ramey is down to two schools:
Arizona
West Virginia— Ethan Bock (@ethanbock_) June 7, 2022
The 6-foot-3, 185 pound Ramey averaged 9.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists for the Longhorns last season. Ramey’s assist numbers dropped precipitously from 2020-21, when he averaged 3.9 dimes per game. That could partly be because he was playing under a new head coach and system.
Ramey played some of his best basketball last season against top opponents, scoring a season-high 18 points in wins over Tennessee and Kansas.
The St. Louis native could fill a similar role as Justin Kier did last season by giving Arizona an experienced off-ball guard who has the ability to play the one position when necessary..
As noted above, Arizona has four scholarships to fill, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn a few new names this week interested in playing for the Wildcats.
One player who won’t be suiting up for Arizona next season is Kentucky transfer Keion Brooks, who expressed interest in the Wildcats before committing to Washington this week.