Georgia basketball player K.D. Johnson (0) during a game against South Carolina at Stegeman Coliseum in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2021. (Photo by Tony Walsh)
Georgia basketball has lost two more players to the NCAA student-athlete transfer portal when the news broke that guard K.D. Johnson and forward Andrew Garcia were both leaving the program.
Andrew Slater of ProInsight broke the news that Johnson was exiting the program.
Johnson was UGA’s second-leading scorer last season as he averaged 13.5 points per game, while only playing in 16 contests. He was also second on the team in 3-point percentage as he shot 38.7 percent as a freshman. After the season, Johnson was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. The former four-star was a part of the Bulldogs 2020 recruiting class, but he didn’t get an opportunity to play until Jan. 13 due to eligibility issues.
Meanwhile, VerbalCommits on Twitter announced Garcia’s decision.
Garcia transferred to UGA from Stony Brook, where he had spent the past three seasons. During his short stint in Athens, he averaged 8.7 points per game and 4.0 rebounds. In Georgia’s opening game against Florida A&M, Garcia had a season-high 22 points off the bench. In fact, he was the only Bulldog to play in every game off the bench. Despite only spending one season at Georgia, he will be remembered by some as a hero because of his game-winning put-back against Kentucky. It was a huge deal because that was the first time the Bulldogs had beaten the Wildcats since 2013.
Just four days before the news broke of Johnson transferring, he released a tweet backing Crean in a graphic that had a quote from former Bulldog and last year’s No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft, Anthony Edwards. The tweet was later deleted from his personal account. Garcia, who was a graduate transfer, had the choice to return for another season due to the NCAA’s COVID-19 free year of eligibility, although he decided not to.
These two transfers are a gut punch for Georgia head coach Tom Crean because now nine players have left the program since the start of the 2020-21 season. Jaykwon Walton announced he was first leaving the team back in November, which was before Christian Brown, Tye Fagan, Toumani Camara and Sahvir Wheeler, who all transferred shortly after the season concluded. Mikal Starks also left the team, but he was not that much of a significant loss. The Bulldogs have lost most of their production from the past season when Fagan, Johnson, Camara and Wheeler all decided to transfer.
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