Saint Mary’s is adding a player with a recognizable name via the transfer portal after losing two starters last month.
Penny Hardaway’s son Ashton is heading to Moraga after his freshman season at Memphis, where his dad is the head coach. He shared the news of his commitment to Saint Mary’s on Instagram.
Ashton Hardaway played in 30 games last year for the Tigers but he made only three starts and his playing time decreased as the season went along. Known for his shooting, Hardaway made 33% of his 3-pointers and averaged 2.3 points per game in his first collegiate season after being ranked No. 92 in ESPN’s Top 100 for the class of 2023.
Saint Mary’s will be Hardaway’s fifth school in five years. The 6-foot-8 forward played his senior year of high school at Sierra Canyon in Chatsworth. His junior year was spent at Duncanville High in the Dallas area, where he transferred from Torrance’s Bishop Montgomery.
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The Gaels lost two-time first-team All-WCC guard Aidan Mahaney to the portal last month, and he later committed to join Connecticut, the back-to-back NCAA champion. Fellow starter Joshua Jefferson also left Moraga, landing with Iowa State, and recruit Zion Sensley of Archbishop Riordan also decommitted last month.
Coach Randy Bennett admitted after the moves that Saint Mary’s, like all schools, will have to adapt to the Name, Image and Likeness era.
According to recruiting website On3.com, the Gaels have also added rising sophomore Paulius Murauskas from Arizona, where he played in 23 games last season and averaged 2.7 points in 5.1 minutes per game. He made 14 of his 27 attempts from 3-point range.
