Sophomore guard Montaque Gill-Caesar will transfer from MU, according to a press release from Mizzou Athletics.
After meeting with coach Kim Anderson earlier this week, the two reached a mutual decision that it would be best for the sophomore shooting guard to leave Mizzou and continue his collegiate career elsewhere.
Gill-Caesar was tabbed as a top-50 recruit by ESPN and the No. 1 overall player in West Virginia for the Class of 2015. However, late last summer, Gill-Caesar reclassified and signed with the Tigers, choosing Missouri over Kansas, Michigan State and Ohio State, among others.
He was one of the few bright spots in an overall disappointing start to the Anderson era for Mizzou basketball. As a freshman, he averaged 9.1 points and 3.0 rebounds per game, and he suffered a back injury in December that hampered his performance.
“I want to thank the Mizzou Basketball program for its support,” Gill-Caesar said in the press release. “I’d like to continue my college basketball career at a school where I am most comfortable.”
Gill-Caesar now becomes the third player to leave the program in what has been a stream of departures this offseason.
Sophomore forward Johnathan Williams III, the team’s leader in points, rebounds and blocks, announced in late March that he would be transferring to Gonzaga. A week later, junior guard Deuce Bello followed suit and announced his plans to leave the program.
With Gill-Caesar’s departure, the Tigers will enter the 2015-16 season without three of the team’s four leading scorers a season ago. The lone returnee of that group, junior Wes Clark, is recovering from a dislocated elbow that ended his season in February.
