It has been widely figured that the Utah Runnin’ Utes would have a good number of players enter the NCAA transfer portal once the team’s season ended on March 9, and now four players have reportedly done so.
On Monday morning, Verbal Commits reported that junior big man Lahat Thioune has entered the portal, following Riley Battin’s decision to do so last week, and in the afternoon, David Jenkins Jr. and walk-on Jack Jamele were added to the list.
Utah C Lahat Thioune has entered the transfer portal. https://t.co/gb7qBUQ8Jq
— Verbal Commits (@VerbalCommits) March 21, 2022
Like Battin, this marks the second time in as many years that the 6-foot-10, 228-pound Thioune has entered the portal.
A native of Senegal, Thioune played sparingly under former Utah head coach Larry Krystkowiak and entered the portal last spring after Krystkowiak was fired before deciding to return to Salt Lake City after Craig Smith was hired to replace Krystkowiak.
This season he was used a bit more consistently by Smith, appearing in 27 of the Utes’ 31 games and averaging 11.2 minutes per contest.
In those minutes, he averaged 3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds.
As for Jenkins Jr., he was expected to be a high-impact transfer for Smith after starring at UNLV, but he and his role were very inconsistent.
In the first month of the season, he played at least 25 minutes in seven of nine contests and averaged 12.4 points, but then things started to decline, and in the last 14 games of the campaign, he logged just single-digit minutes six times.
As for Jamele, the 6-foot-6, 174-pound guard out of California did not appear in any games during the 2021-22 season and appeared in just one the season before after walking on to the team.
With Thioune, Jamele, Jenkins Jr. and Battin in the portal, 7-footer Branden Carlson is now the only player on the Utah roster who is taller than the 6-foot-7 Lazar Stefanovic.