For the second year in a row, an Arizona player looking for a greater opportunity has found it in the West Coast Conference.
Forward Paulius Murauskas is transferring to Saint Mary’s after one season with the Wildcats, according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony.
The 6-foot-8 Lithuanian native played sparingly as a true freshman in 2023-24, appearing in 23 of 36 games but averaging just five minutes. He scored 63 points with 27 rebounds, doing most of his damage from the perimeter where he was 14 of 27 on 3-point tries.
Murauskas had a career-high 12 points against ASU on Feb. 17 and 10 against Morgan State in the season opener but mostly came in for the final minute or so when the outcome was decided, unable to crack Tommy Lloyd’s 8-man rotation.
At Saint Mary’s he will fellow Lithuanian Augustas Marciulionis, a guard who averaged 12.4 points and 5.3 assists as a junior. The Gaels, who won the WCC regular-season and conference tournament titles, were upset by Grand Canyon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and have to replace leading scorer Aidan Mahaney, who entered the NCAA transfer portal this week along with 6-8 forward Joshua Jefferson.
Murauskas is the second ex-Wildcat to go to the WCC in as many seasons. Wing Adama Bal followed up his two years with the UA by leading Santa Clara in scoring (14.4) in 2023-24, and the 6-foot-6 Frenchman has since declared for the 2024 NBA Draft.
He’s the third former player from the 2023-24 UA team to find a new home, following Kylan Boswell to Illinois and Oumar Ballo to Indiana.