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USC guard Byron Wesley to transfer for final season of eligibility

Byron Wesley, Jarett Upchurch

Southern California’s Byron Wesley, left, shoots past Arizona State’s Jarett Upchurch, right, during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, in Los Angeles. Arizona State won 79-60. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

AP

The first season of the Andy Enfield era at USC was a difficult one to say the least, with the Trojans finishing the season with an overall record of 11-21 and winning just two Pac-12 games. A bright spot for USC was guard Byron Wesley, who played nearly 35 minutes per game and posted averages of 17.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.3 assists per contest.

And while those numbers weren’t enough to get Wesley a spot on any of the Pac-12’s all-conference teams, they were a noticeable improvement on his numbers in 2012-13.

Unfortunately for USC, Wesley has decided to transfer for his final season of collegiate eligibility. The 6-foot-5 Wesley announced the decision via his Twitter account, and upon graduating this summer he’ll be eligible to play at another school immediately.

Wesley reached double figures in 26 of the 30 games he played in this season, scoring a season-high 31 in a win over Northern Arizona on November 15. That was one of two games in which Wesley scored 31 points this past season, the second of which being a win at Washington State on March 6.

Wesley shot 46.7% from the field, 33.8% from three and 71.8% from the foul line as a junior.

USC will be a young team next season, something that was bound to be the case with or without Wesley in the rotation. A solid recruiting class led by point guard Jordan McLaughlin will have the opportunity to earn minutes (especially front court players Malik Price-Martin and Jabari Craig), and rising sophomores Julian Jacobs and Nikola Jovanovic both factored into the rotation in 2013-14.

USC also adds UNLV transfer Katin Reinhardt, who sat out last season per NCAA transfer rules.

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