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Iowa State junior guard K.J. Bluford leaves program

hoiberg

After averaging 17.8 points as a sophomore at Northeast Nebraska Community College, shooting guard K.J. Bluford had hopes of being a contributor for an Iowa State team that lost four of its top five scorers from a season ago. Unfortunately things didn’t work out that way for Bluford, whose desire for more playing time has resulted in his decision to leave the program.

Iowa State announced the news on Sunday afternoon.

“I appreciate the time and effort that K.J. gave to our program,” Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg said in the release. “He has elected to transfer to find a program that will allow him more playing time. I wish him the best in the future and will assist him in any way I can.”

Bluford averaged 2.7 points per game for Iowa State, with his highest scoring output being a six-point outing in a 110-51 win over Kansas City on November 25. Bluford scored five points in season-opening wins over UNCW and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, only to not see any action in Iowa State’s win over Michigan and minimal playing time against BYU.

In the six games after his 14-minute outing against Kansas City, Bluford played a total of five minutes with four coming in an Iowa State win over Auburn.

Given the lack of playing time that Bluford saw, this won’t be a crushing blow for the Cyclones. But if Iowa State were to be hit by a rash of injuries, then maybe there would be some concern regarding their backcourt depth.

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