Robert Morris Hosts Sought-After Freshman Transfer Guard for Visit

Robert Morris lost a majority of its production from this past season mainly due to six players entering the transfer portal, but one area that Andy Toole and his staff were able to salvage some production from was its backcourt as Darius Livingston and Ta’Zir Smith are set to return to the Colonials for another season.

On top of retaining two young guards that came on strong as the season progressed, Toole’s first portal commitment of the offseason was another guard in Ace Valentine that helped lead his former team to the NCAA Tournament this past season.

Now, Toole looks to round out his backcourt rotation for next season as Robert Morris is hosting highly sought-after Cal Fullerton transfer Kiwane Garris Jr. for a visit on Friday, according to The Portal Report and confirmed by Robert Morris Sports Now.

Garris, the son of former NBA and overseas professional Kiwane Garris Sr., excelled during his freshman season at Cal State Fullerton. He played in 29 games and averaged 16.1 minutes per game last year. Garris scored double-digit points in 11 games, 17+ points in seven games and posted a season and career-high 22 points in his debut.

Garris was not only a scorer and playmaker as a freshman as he averaged 8.2 points and 3.4 rebounds, he was an efficient shooter as he shot 49% from the field and 43% from three-point range.

Long story short, Garris would be a major recruiting win for Robert Morris as he is one of the more intriguing freshman still available in the portal as evident his interest from the handful of high-major programs such as Seton Hall, Ole Miss, Michigan, USC, Oregon and Georgia Tech among others.

If Garris decided to join Robert Morris this offseason, it would immediately give Toole and the Colonials one of the more deep and experienced guard rotations in the entire Horizon League while also allowing the remaining recruiting efforts to be aimed towards attracting wings and forwards which is where the roster lacks bodies at this point.

Aside from freshman Eddie Cooke III and Samuel Obenjo, there are no other wings or forwards on the roster despite the fact that Robert Morris molded different forwards into Horizon League Player of the Year winners in each of the past two seasons.