Indiana forward Damezi Anderson has put his name in the transfer portal. He made the announcement on his Instagram account.
The South Bend, Ind. product struggled to get on track during his two seasons at IU.
Early during his sophomore season Anderson had the look of a player that had improved substantially.
Anderson started the season 17-of-36 (47.2 percent) from the field overall including 8-of-21 (38 percent) from three-point range through nine games. The 6-foot-7 Anderson came to IU with the reputation of a scorer-shooter appeared ready to take a nice step forward in season two.
Instead, Anderson would never make another shot the rest of the year and his minutes quickly faded. He would only play more than four minutes in a game four times over the last 23 contests, including 14 that Anderson never came off the bench.
Anderson finished the season by missing his last 18 attempts from the field. For the 2019-20 season he played in 18 games and averaged 2.8 points and 2.2 rebounds.
While he leaves the program on good terms, Anderson told Kevin Brockway of CNHI that it was simply time to look for a better fit.
“My experience at Indiana was good,” Anderson said. “I loved it there. It was a great school. I got in close with my teammates, and I got a lot of fans and stuff, and there’s a lot of good people at Indiana. It’s just the opportunity for me wasn’t there for me all the way.”
Anderson had a final meeting with IU coaches Thursday that cemented his decision.
“It came down to me and my family, looking down and looking at all the aspects, what’s best for me,” Anderson said. “We came to agreement that putting my name in the portal was the best thing.”
Hailing from South Bend Riley high school, Anderson was part of IU head coach Archie Miller’s first recruiting class. That 2018 group included current players Rob Phinisee and Jerome Hunter, along with the Boston Celtics’ Romeo Langford.
Anderson was the first IU scholarship player from South Bend since Tom Abernethy in 1973.
Under the assumption that verbal commit Khristian Lander reclassifies to the class of 2020 as he intends, Indiana now has one open scholarship on its 2019-20 roster, and three open scholarships for 2020-21.
Players that put their names in the transfer portal have the option to return to their current school.
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