Pitt's Trey McGowens enters transfer portal, joins Ryan Murphy as departing guards

Sophomore guard Trey McGowens, one of the building blocks coach Jeff Capel put in place at the outset of his Pitt tenure, entered the NCAA transfer portal.

Pittsburgh sophomore Trey McGowens just informed @Stockrisers that he will enter his name in the transfer portal. He averaged 11.5 points last season on 38% shooting.

Long line of suitors? expected.

— Jake (@jakeweingarten) March 18, 2020

McGowens is the second Pitt guard this week to express a desire to leave the program after two losing seasons. Ryan Murphy entered the portal Sunday.

McGowens, who set a Pitt freshman record by scoring 33 points against Louisville on Jan. 9, 2019, was the first of three high school seniors to commit to Capel a month after he was hired in 2018.

He joined Xavier Johnson and Au’Diese Toney as players who appeared to be what Pitt was seeking after a winless ACC season in 2018.

“Trey was a productive player in our program for the past two seasons,” Capel said in a statement. “We appreciate his commitment to the program and his teammates and wish him the best of luck as he seeks an opportunity elsewhere.”

McGowens flashed hot and cold during his two seasons at Pitt but appeared in all 66 games the past two seasons, starting 64.

He averaged 11.5 and 11.6 points per game in those seasons, but his shooting percentage dropped from 41.7 as a freshman to 36.7 this season.

After scoring a total of 46 points in three games against Miami, Notre Dame and Georgia Tech at the outset of February this year, he didn’t reach double digits again until recording 14 and 12 against Wake Forest and N.C. State in the ACC Tournament.

His best games came against Robert Morris (25 points), North Carolina and Louisville (24).

Besides his scoring ability, McGowens also was one of Pitt’s best defensive players, leading the team in steals during both seasons (64 and 63).

Capel is in the process of rebuilding his team after a 30-36 overall record (9-29 in the ACC) in his first two seasons.

He has three signed high school players in his 2020 recruiting class, and all three should eventually provide desperately needed size around the basket. Four-star forward John Hugley of Cleveland and Noah Collier of Westtown, both 6-foot-8, and 6-10 Max Amadasun of Brooklyn, N.Y., will be joined by guard Femi Adukale of Springfield, Mass., who verbally committed this week.

Plus, guard Ithiel Horton, a transfer from Delaware, will join the team next season after sitting out 2019-20.

Losing McGowens and Murphy, plus Eric Hamilton, Kene Chukwuka and Samson George from this season’s team, would leave only three scholarship players who were part of Capel’s first team — Johnson, Toney and rising senior center Terrell Brown.

Johnson recently tweeted his desire to remain with the program, plus his sadness over losing McGowens.

The departure of McGowens leaves Pitt two available scholarships for the 2020-21 season.

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— Xavier Johnson “1” (@TheXavierJ0) March 18, 2020