Clemson Basketball Adds Fourth Transfer of Offseason, Tevin Mack

The Tigers landed their fourth and likely final transfer of the offseason.

Clemson added two players that only have one year under their belt at their previous school and are expected to sit out next season per NCAA transfer rules (though NCAA waivers seem to be flying around these days so who knows). These two, Nick Honor, the star PG from Fordham, and Khavon Moore, a highly-touted forward from Texas Tech, could contribute for several years, but probably not next season.

To make an instant impact on a roster that needed a boost, Coach Brownell and the Tigers added two graduate transfers with immediate eligibility. First was Curran Scott - a 6’4” shooter from Tulsa. Now they’ve added another Tevin Mack from Alabama. Both will be 5th year seniors and have one year with Clemson.

Tevin Mack was a four-star recruit from Columbia, SC and originally chose Shaka Smart’s VCU Rams. When Smart took the Texas job, Mack was released from his commitment and followed him to Texas. As a sophomore, he was leading the Longhorns in points per game (14.8ppg with a .459 FG%), but was suspended for a violation of team rules (potentially connected to an incident where he was seen yelling at a teammate after a game and the players had to be separated.) He was released from the team and transferred to Alabama.

Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images

After sitting a year, he played his redshirt junior year for the Crimson Tide and averaged 9.0 ppg. He entered the NBA Draft, but didn’t hire an agent, allowing him to learn more about areas of improvement and then withdraw. After withdrawing he announced his transfer and now his destination - Clemson - is being reported.

At 6’6”, he gives the Tigers some much needed height and can play the SF position. This transfer takes a lot of pressure of Sophomores John Newman and Hunter Tyson as well as the incoming freshman. This doesn’t really solve the issues in the front court presented by the transfers of Javan White and Malik William and ACL injury to Jonathan Baehre (a transfer from UNC Asheville that was set to start in the post and make a big impact for the Tigers), but it helps replace the scoring lost.

It’ll be interesting to see how the staff blends the new faces looking to make an immediate splash with the returning players and incoming freshmen. The staff will have to quickly integrate them into a team that lost four senior starters and two post-players to transfer. There will be limited minutes to go around at the wing positions. It’ll be interesting to see what personality this team takes on. At minimum, Clemson basketball just become far more interesting for 2019-20.