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Louisiana-based shooting guard verbally commits to Rhode Island

Rhode Island v George Washington

Rhode Island v George Washington

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Having already received a verbal commitment from power forward Leroy Butts in late June, Rhode Island’s next area to address in the Class of 2015 was the perimeter, with T.J. Buchanan entering his senior season and DeShon “Biggie” Minnis being a junior. Sunday afternoon head coach Dan Hurley landed his second verbal commitment in the class, with 6-foot-4 shooting guard Christion Thompson deciding that he’ll play his college basketball at URI.

Thompson made the decision at the end of his official visit to the Rhode Island campus, with this being the only official taken by the Louisiana-based guard. Thompson, who averaged 21 points and ten rebounds per game, helped lead Dutchtown HS in Gonzalez, Louisiana to the quarterfinals of the state tournament last season. He is attending Madison Prep in Baton Rouge, Louisiana for his senior year after making the decision to transfer in June.

Thompson played for the Nike Team Louisiana program this summer, averaging 9.4 points 3.2 rebounds per game in Nike EYBL competition. In a story written by Kevin McNamara of the Providence Journal, Thompson noted that the URI staff began to show interest in July and things picked up from there.

He caught the eye of the URI coaching staff in July at an AAU event in Las Vegas, Thompson said. He said he only visited Rhody but was getting calls from Tulane, Louisiana Tech, Mississippi, Creighton and other schools.

“Jim Carr (the URI assistant coach) saw me in Vegas and just started texting me all the time and got my interest,” Thompson said. “Coach Hurley and the players were great to be with this weekend.”

With an eye towards the future Rhode Island was already set up to have good depth on the perimeter, with E.C. Matthews being a sophomore and freshmen Jarvis Garrett and four-star prospect Jared Terrell already part of the program. Adding Thompson helps the Rams even more from a depth standpoint, especially when considering the fact that they’ll lose one of their current guards (Buchanan) at the end of the 2014-15 season.

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