Freshman C.J. Roberts will transfer at the end of the semester, his father told the Kansas City Star Thursday night. In a statement, Mizzou men’s basketball confirmed his decision.
“C.J. Roberts will transfer from the Mizzou Men’s Basketball program,” head coach Cuonzo Martin said in the statement. “We wish him nothing but the best, and we will assist him in any way possible.”
Roberts, a 6-foot point guard out of North Richland Hills, Texas, was an ESPN four-star recruit. He was a consensus top-15 player in Texas for the class of 2017 and was ranked 32nd in the country among point guards in his class by 247Sports and 36th by ESPN.
Along with Michael Porter Jr., Jontay Porter, Jeremiah Tilmon and Blake Harris, Roberts was considered a highlight prospect in Martin’s eye-opening recruiting class that ranked as one of the best in the nation. Still, he was kept out of Mizzou’s rotation in the early season before Martin elected to redshirt him for the remainder of his freshman year.
Given the scale of the recruiting class, the loss of Roberts should not be detrimental to the Tigers. Even after they lost Porter Jr. to a season-ending back injury, the Tigers have shown flashes of potential against a tough nonconference schedule.
Roberts didn’t announce where he will transfer to, but he also received offers in high school from Georgia, LSU, Ole Miss, Texas Tech and Louisiana Tech.
_Edited by Joe Noser | jnoser@themaneater.com_
