Pitt loses 2 more to transfer portal, including starting point guard Femi Odukale

Pitt lost a starting point, gained his replacement and said goodbye to a little-used big man Friday when Femi Odukale and Max Amadasun entered their names in the transfer portal.

The news came hours after Pitt received a verbal commitment from point guard Nelly Cummings, formerly of Colgate, who led Lincoln Park High School to WPIAL and PIAA championships before college.

Cummings, a 6-foot senior with one season of eligibility remaining, is expected to take Odukale’s spot at point guard. Cummings helped Colgate to the NCAA Tournament this season.

When the moves were finalized, Pitt had lost a total of eight scholarship players from its 2021-22 roster since the season ended a month ago, including seven who are planning to transfer and starting forward Mouhamadou Gueye, who exhausted his eligibility.

The departures include 3-point threat and starter Ithiel Horton and backups Noah Collier, Chris Payton, Onyebuchi Ezeakudo, Dan Oladapo, Amadasun and Odukale. Amadasun (6-foot-10) appeared in only 11 games for a total of 21 minutes in two seasons.

That leaves Pitt with two returning starters for 2022-23: center John Hugley and guard Jamarius Burton, plus reserves William Jeffress and Nate Santos and senior guard Nike Sibande.

Sibande missed the entire season with a knee injury but was expected to be a starter. He has played in only 14 games since transferring from Miami (Ohio) in 2020.

The loss of Odukale was not unexpected after he averaged only 5.1 points over the final eight games of the season, including a scoreless 19 minutes in a season-ending loss to Boston College in the ACC Tournament. Those final games were preceded by 23-, 25- and 16-point efforts against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech, but Odukale never found a consistent niche in the Pitt offense.

Yet Odukale had been chosen to replace Xavier Johnson at point guard after Johnson left the team near the end of the 2020-21 season. This season, Odukale started 28 games and was second on team in average minutes (32.4). He finished third in scoring (10.8 points) while leading the Panthers in assists (104) and steals (30). But he was not a significant threat from the 3-point arc, hitting only 33% of those shots (38 of 115), which was part of an overall shooting rate of only 39.1%.

Plus, he shot only 58.4% from the free-throw line in two seasons at Pitt, compared to Cummings’ 81.3% over his final three seasons at Colgate. Cummings also might be a slightly better long-range threat after hitting 62 of 172 from beyond the arc last season.

After adding Cummings, Pitt coach Jeff Capel has seven available scholarships.