The losses are continuing to pile up for SFU’s Men’s Basketball team on and off the court this year.
Just a month after Junior Max Barkeley decided to transfer away from the Clan, promising freshman Oshea Gairey is poised to do the same.
“First off, I want to say thank you to Coach Hill and his staff for the opportunity and also the SFU students and family that came out to the game[s] and supported us during the season,” Gairey told The Peak.
“I just want to be a part of something where I can reach my full potential and compete everyday to get better as a person, a player, and a team [member].”
Gairey had been one of the few bright spots in an extremely difficult season for the Men’s Basketball team — one where they registered just two wins, and only a single one in conference play. Gairey, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio but raised in Toronto, led all freshman in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference in scoring, averaging 13.3 points per game, as well as 3.1 assists per game. In our men’s basketball season review, published on March 7, The Peak wrote that “if he [Gairey] stays for four years, he will almost certainly be the star of the program.”
The decision was made last week after talking to the coaching staff, according to Gairey. He does not have any other offers from schools at the moment, but stresses that things did not end on bad terms.
“Coach Hill just wants me to happy as a player and an individual,” said Gairey. “So no, he didn’t want this to happen, but he’s a supporter of me and we both wished each other the best in the future.”
Head Coach Virgil Hill declined to comment.
This marks the seventh departure from SFU’s men’s basketball team in this season alone. Denver Sparks-Guest left the team, and both Pape Seck and Graham Smith are transferring out of SFU. Junior Max Barkeley left the team with four games left in the season, and has received an offer to attend Cal State San Bernardino, according to verbalcommits.com. Matt Rud is leaving the team according to reports, and senior Michael Harper is graduating.
As of right now, SFU appears to only have eight players heading into next season. Gibran Sewani is the only returning senior, with UBC transfer Kedar Wright joining the team for next year. Chase Hobenshield is joining the team next year as well, and is expected to redshirt.
The above roster moves are from verbalcommits.com, and could not be officially confirmed by Head Coach Virgil Hill at the time of publication.
