In the last two weeks, Utah State’s men’s basketball team watched as star forward Justin Bean declared for the NBA draft and senior Brock Miller retired from basketball altogether.
Those announcements were bittersweet, as Bean had done nearly everything he could in Logan, while Miller’s health made his retirement anything but unexpected.
On Thursday afternoon, the Aggies got some additional news, and this time there was nothing bittersweet about it.
Saint Joseph’s forward Taylor Funk announced on Twitter that he is transferring to Utah State for his final season of college basketball.
The 6’8”, 215-pound native of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, will be expected to immediately step in and help fill the void left by Bean and Brandon Horvath. Horvath exhausted his remaining eligibility this past season.
A redshirt senior, Funk averaged 13.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in 2021-22, playing in 28 total games.
Over his collegiate career, Funk has played in 120 games — all with Saint Joseph’s — and averaged 12 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Know for being a scorer, Funk has shot 35% from 3-point range over his career, while also shooting 81% from the free throw line.
His best individual season came in 2020-21, when he averaged 17.4 points and 5.6 rebound a contest.
That year, Funk was named the most improved player in the Big 5 — the Big 5 is an informal association of college athletic programs in Philadelphia and includes La Salle, Penn, Saint Joseph’s, Temple, Villanova — and was also on the All-Big 5 first team.