Nate Allen
FAYETTEVILLE - Desi Sills won’t be returning to the University of Arkansas Razorbacks basketball team and is placing his name in the NCAA transfer portal.
The junior 3-year letterman guard from Jonesboro, lettering in 2018-2019 for former Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson and the last two seasons under Coach Eric Musselman, announced his intentions Wednesday on social media.
“Dear Razorback Nation,” Sills posted. “ I would like to start off by thanking you all for these last three years. I am grateful for all the things my teammates and I were able to accomplish and the memories we were able to make in this year of uncertainty & thanks for pushing me every day in practice to make me a better player.
“I would like to thank Coach Anderson’s staff for recruiting me & Coach Musselman for allowing me to continue to play for my home state. It has truly been a pleasure to play at Bud Walton Arena. With that being said I have made my decision to enter my name in the transfer portal.”
A reserve for Anderson’s Razorbacks until forging into the starting lineup the final eight games of 2018-2019 and developed into a 24-games starter for Musselman’s 2019-2020 Razorbacks.
Sills opened 2020-2021 as a starting guard and though eventually losing that starting guard position to freshman Davonte “Devo” Davis continued as an often key reserve for the 25-7 Razorbacks that concluded their season losing to top-seed Baylor in the South Regional Elite Eight championship game.
For his three Razorbacks seasons Sills averaged Sills averaged 7.7 points per game including 10.6 for his 2019-2020 season when he logged 997 minutes which dropped to 664 in 2020-2021.
Sills enters the transfer portal with two seasons of eligibility since because of the 2020-2021 coronavirus pandemic circumstances athletes competing in 2021-2022 retain their 2020-2021 athletic class eligibility.
Earlier this week, starting guard Amber Ramirez announced she would return as a sixth-year senior to Coach Mike Neighbors’ Razorbacks women’s basketball team.
Three of Neighbors’ seniors, starting center Taylah Thomas, top reserve guard Jailyn Mason and reserve guard Macy Weaver announced they would put their names in the transfer portal.
First-team All-SEC