Utah State's Moore opts out of draft, will return to school


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LOGAN — Utah State forward Jalen Moore will return to school for his senior season and has removed his name from this summer's NBA draft, the school announced Thursday.

Moore, who had individual workouts with Utah, Minnesota and Memphis, was taking advantage of a new NCAA rule that permitted underclassmen to enter draft consideration prior to the May 10-15 NBA Combine but retain college eligibility if they did not sign with an agent.

The senior-to-be wing and former Sky View standout returns to a Utah State team that he has led in scoring and rebounding the past two seasons for the second year of Tim Duryea's tenure as head coach.

“It was a great experience to get some feedback in this whole process,” Moore said in a statement. “I was able to work out in some places and played against some good players from good conferences."

Among other things, Moore cited a lingering back injury that sent him out of consideration early. The deadline for a player to remove his name from the draft is May 25.

During his pre-draft road trip, Moore played against players from Northern Iowa, Kentucky, Texas A&M and other schools. NBA teams such as the Jazz have declined to comment on underclassmen during team workouts so as not to interfere with college coaches as the players make their decisions about their NBA futures.

Utah State's Jalen Moore (14) and Julion Pearre (5) speak with coach Tim Duryea during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. Duke won 85-52. (Photo: Gerry Broome, AP Photo)
Utah State's Jalen Moore (14) and Julion Pearre (5) speak with coach Tim Duryea during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Sunday, Nov. 29, 2015. Duke won 85-52. (Photo: Gerry Broome, AP Photo)

“The pre-draft process is nothing but a positive experience and gives these players great exposure and is something that can only help them,” Duryea said in a statement. “We as coaches can talk about an athlete’s ability, intangibles and intelligence, but in these workouts, teams are able to see firsthand all of those positive things.

“It really gave Jalen a road map of where to improve. But it also helps us as coaches to help him advance in those areas as we are working on our summer programs and workouts.”

Moore returns to an Aggie squad as one of eight returning players facing significant turnover, with seven announced newcomers for the 2016-17 season. The new numbers have led to some early transfers, including the recent movement of graduate transfer Lew Evans to Tennessee for his final season of collegiate eligibility.

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