Deuce Bello wore the No. 2 on the back of his jersey in his one season as a Tiger. Now, he will be the second player to leave the program this offseason.
Bello intends to graduate from MU this spring then move to another institution to pursue graduate studies, according to a news release Tuesday afternoon. The release stated that the Mizzou basketball program is “cooperatively helping Bello with his potential future options.”
Bello saw an average of 10.9 minutes on the floor this season for the Tigers, by far the least amount of playing time among the scholarship players on the team. In that time, the junior guard averaged 1.8 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists to go along with 0.8 turnovers per game.
Once a 95th overall-rated ESPN recruit, Bello was the 54th-best prospect in the Class of 2011. He is a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, where he attended Westchester Country Day School.
Before coming to Columbia, Bello played a season at Baylor, where he saw the exact same amount of time on the floor as he did at Mizzou (10.9 minutes per game). Bello averaged 2.4 points per game his freshman season at Baylor, transferred after that season and sat out his sophomore year, due to NCAA transfer regulations.
On Dec. 30, 2013, Bello was suspended from the Mizzou team due to poor academics. He sat out six games during the suspension. Altogether, Bello spent nine whole games on the bench this season.
Johnathan Williams III’s transfer was confirmed in the news release as well.
“We appreciate the character and competitiveness that Johnathan brought to our Mizzou program and we certainly wish him the best of luck in the future,” Missouri coach Kim Anderson said in the release. “Our Mizzou coaching staff will continue to build a foundation for championship basketball at our first-class institution.”