After the Missouri basketball team added three transfers to its roster in the span of nine days, head coach Cuonzo Martin said the team wasn't done mining the portal for talent. It's been more than a month, but the Tigers have now proved Martin right.
Former Massachusetts forward Ronnie DeGray announced Wednesday that he will transfer to Missouri. DeGray, a former three-star prospect out of Connecticut, averaged 8.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 37.0 percent from three-point range during his lone season at UMass. He will have all four years of eligibility remaining.
DeGray said his relationship with Martin and assistant coach Cornell Mann was the primary selling point that led him to choose Missouri. Mann formed a strong rapport with his father, DeGray said, and he appreciates Martin's focus on pushing his players to grow beyond the basketball court. Even though he'll be new to Missouri's roster when he arrives on campus in early June, he feels like he already has family there.
"Being able to be around coaches that genuinely want to see you win, but also help bettering you to be a man — not just on basketball aspects of things, but growing up in the world and everything," DeGray said when asked what led him to pick Missouri. "Everything that coach Martin preaches about culture and about getting out of your comfort zone and being able to change your ways and impact others really means a lot to me. I think that led to my decision to go to Mizzou.”
That relationship actually started long before DeGray entered the transfer portal. DeGray, who held a Missouri offer as a prospect out of Woodstock Academy prep in Connecticut, said the Missouri staff ultimately told him it only had room to take a center in the 2020 recruiting class. But when Martin circled back a year later, their bond picked right up where it left off.
"My heart always wanted to go to Missouri," DeGray said. "It didn’t work out the first time, but sometimes God’s plan has to loop around in a circle for you to be able to go again. But the relationship with coach Corn and coach Martin, with my family, and knowing coach Mann personally, that just really meant a lot to me."
The 6-foot-7 DeGray should help fill an important role for Missouri. The Tigers have lost Jeremiah Tilmon, Mitchell Smith and Parker Braun from its roster last season, and speaking to reporters last month, Martin said the staff was looking to add a player who could provide an interior presence via the portal, even if it wasn't a traditional five-man.
DeGray sees himself being able to fill that role, but also do more. He said the Missouri staff likes his versatility — he can guard just about anyone, he believes — and he wants to add a more consistent three-point shot to go along with his scoring ability around the basket.
"I’m able to play a lot of positions and guard the one through five," DeGray said. "Me and coach Corn and coach Martin really just talked about being versatile and being able to play off screens, and they really want me to shoot the ball this year. I shot it decently this year, but shoot more threes and all that. So I feel there’s a lot I can do for this team.”
DeGray joins Amari Davis (Green Bay), DaJuan Gordon (Kansas State) and Jarron Coleman (Ball State) in transferring to Missouri since last season ended. The Tigers will have to replace more than 80 percent of their scoring and minutes played from a season ago after six players entered the transfer portal and three moved on to the professional ranks.
With the addition of DeGray, Missouri has one remaining open scholarship, although Martin said last month that the staff might opt to keep a spot open this season, as it did last year.
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