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PROVO — Utah Valley point guard Brandon Averette is on the move — again.
The former Oklahoma State transfer will play at BYU for his senior season, the Cougars announced Friday evening.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound native of Richardson, Texas, averaged 12.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists as a junior for the Wolverines. He played two seasons at Oklahoma State, including averaging 6.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and a team-high 2.9 assists per game in 2017-18 when the Cowboys finished 21-15 and advanced to the third round of the NIT.
“Brandon Averette is one of the most explosive, cat-quick, clever playmakers in college basketball,” said BYU coach Mark Pope, who helped bring Averette to Utah Valley as a redshirt sophomore two years ago. “We feel so blessed to have him join our locker room. He is universally beloved by his teammates for his competitive spirit and playmaking ability. It’s going to take about two seconds for Cougar fans to fall in love with his quiet charisma and winning charm.”
Averette joins a recruiting class that includes fellow graduate transfer Matt Haarms from Purdue, as well as returned missionary freshman Hunter Erickson and junior college transfers Gideon George (New Mexico JC) and Spencer Johnson (Salt Lake CC).
In addition to Averette, the Cougars will also add fellow UVU transfers Wyatt Lowell and Richard Harward, who both sat out the 2019-20 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Harward, a 6-11, 255-pound center from Orem, will be a junior for the Cougars, while Lowell, a former four-star prospect from Gilbert, Arizona, will be a redshirt sophomore and was the 2018-19 WAC Freshman of the Year for the Wolverines.
The Cougars also signed high school products Dallin Hall of Fremont, Richie Saunders of Wasatch Academy and Tanner Toolson of Evergreen High School in Washington in the Class of 2020, but all three will serve two-year missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prior to enrolling at BYU.
Averette will graduate this summer from Utah Valley with a degree in university studies, and will be immediately eligible for his final season of college basketball in 2020-21.
