Mike White’s vision for Georgia basketball coming into focus

Mike White's vision for his first Georgia basketball team is slowly coming into focus with a fourth player addition via the NCAA's transfer portal. Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe comes to UGA from Oklahoma State. (Photo from UGA Athletics)

Credit: Tony Walsh

Credit: Tony Walsh

Mike White's vision for his first Georgia basketball team is slowly coming into focus with a fourth player addition via the NCAA's transfer portal. Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe comes to UGA from Oklahoma State. (Photo from UGA Athletics)

ATHENS — Georgia basketball coach Mike White picked up another commitment via the transfer portal.

Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, a 6-foot-7 sophomore at Oklahoma State last season, announced he is joining the Bulldogs via an Instagram post Monday. A native of Toronto, Moncrieffe averaged 4.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game last season. He shot 51% from the field and started seven of the Cowboys’ 30 games.

Moncrieffe averaged 9.0 points and 5.3 rebounds as a freshman. He was a four-star recruiting prospect from Orangeville Prep when he signed with Oklahoma State.

Georgia’s staff knows Moncrieffe well. Assistant coach Erik Pastrana was on the Oklahoma State staff when Moncrieffe signed. Also, Moncrieffe played a season-high 26 minutes and recorded nine points and seven rebounds in a game against White’s Florida Gators in January in Gainesville. The Gators won 81-72.

Moncrieffe is the Bulldogs’ fourth addition via the transfer portal. Last week, Jusaun Holt, a 6-6 wing player from Alabama, announced he was coming to Georgia. A former prep star who led St. Francis to back-to-back Class A private state championships, Holt was a backup for the Crimson Tide as a freshman last season, averaging 0.7 point and 1.6 rebounds a game.

That gives Georgia eight players overall, so White and his new staff still have a lot of work to do. The NCAA allows 13 scholarship players.

To review, this is Georgia’s 2022-23 men’s basketball roster thus far:

Returnees: G/F Jabri Abdur-Rahim, 6-8, Jr.; C Braelen Bridges, 6-10, Gr.; F Jailyn Ingram, 6-7, Sr.; G Kario Oquendo, 6-4, Jr.

Additions: G Justin Hill, 6-0, Jr. (Longwood); G Terry Roberts, 6-3, Sr. (Bradley); G/F Jusaun Holt, 6-6, So. (Alabama); G/F Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, 6-7, Jr. (Oklahoma State).

White, who coached at Florida for seven seasons, succeeded Tom Crean as the Bulldogs’ coach in mid-March. Georgia has had 10 players enter the transfer portal since then. One of those was Oquendo, who subsequently decided to remain with the Bulldogs.

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