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ASU Basketball: Jethro Tshisumpa to Transfer

By Hunter Robinson

Feb 11, 2017; Tempe, AZ, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward Reid Travis (22) makes a move against Arizona State Sun Devils forward Jethro Tshisumpa (42) under the net during the second half at Wells-Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils won 75-69. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 11, 2017; Tempe, AZ, USA; Stanford Cardinal forward Reid Travis (22) makes a move against Arizona State Sun Devils forward Jethro Tshisumpa (42) under the net during the second half at Wells-Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils won 75-69. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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After only one season with the program, Jethro Tshisumpa is transferring from ASU basketball.

Tshisumpa was suspended for the last six games of ASU basketball’s season, including their two Pac-12 tournament games, for a team rules violation.

Although he was the tallest player on the team at 6-10, he only averaged 7.5 minutes a night due to head coach Bobby Hurley’s small-ball oriented team. In his 7.4 minutes per game, Tshisumpa averaged one point, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.96 blocks a game.

Speaking to AZCentral, Hurley thanked Tshisumpa for his time with the program.

“We appreciate Jethro’s efforts academically and athletically and wish him the very best in the future,” Hurley said.

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While it is never good to have a player transfer, and having two freshman transfer away from a program has to be alarming for Arizona State Athletics, this isn’t that huge of a loss.

Tshisumpa was going to take a while to develop, and he most likely would have only been a worthwhile player his final season or two at Arizona State. With this team having one of the top 2016 recruits in Romello White, Tshisumpa’s development was going to get put on the back burner.

Another possibility is that Tshisumpa may have been forced to transfer. After not playing in the team’s final six games, questions started to pop up about Tshisumpa’s status with the team. While Hurley and the ASU athletics department did a good job of keeping it in-house, it looked like Tshisumpa’s future with Arizona State was already in jeopardy.

Instead of being released from the team and possibly never having the chance of playing college basketball due to a shattered reputation, Tshisumpa may have decided his best course of action was to announce he was transferring from the program to save face.

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No matter what brought about Tshisumpa’s decision to transfer, the Arizona State Men’s Basketball team needs to look ahead to the future and find ways to keep improving heading into the 2017-18 season.

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