Virginia’s Casey Morsell enters the transfer portal

By Jerry Ratcliffe

Virginia sophomore guard Casey Morsell has entered the transfer portal.

The former 4-star member of the 2019 recruiting class played in 19 games this season and played 265 minutes as opposed to 30 games and 654 minutes when he started 13 games.

Morsell averaged 4.4 points and 1.3 rebounds per game this past season, which was close to his career numbers of 4.2 points and 1.5 rebounds per game.

Morsell’s move to the portal followed reports that Virginia had reached out to Davidson graduate transfer guard Kellan Grady and Penn State junior guard Myreon Jones, who have both also entered the transfer portal.

Virginia coach Tony Bennett discussed the possibility of losing someone off his current team during his final coaches show of the season Wednesday.

“I sat in front of the team and thanked them and talked about the season, and especially the guys who didn’t get to play,” Bennett said in reference to his postgame locker room chat with his team following the NCAA first round loss to Ohio University. “Every one of you is welcome back here, we want you in the program. You need to go home and be with your family, rest, pause, take time.

“We will have discussions when the time is right. Some programs it isn’t like that. I wish guys would always come back and be patient and work. Maybe we won’t have anyone in the portal, maybe we’ll have several. We’ll see where we’re at. I hope everyone comes back but I’m not naive.”

Morsell’s move came less than 24 hours after Bennett’s statement.

With the exit, Virginia has room on its roster to aggressively pursue players who can help the program via the portal.

“We have two scholarships left, two spots left,” Bennett said before Morsell’s departure, which means there’s room for three new players if UVA wants to sign that many.

Morsell is a 6-3 guard from Fort Washington, Md., out of St. John’s College High School. He was the No. 56 overall player in the country via recruiting services and the No. 6 shooting guard.

His shooting ability never really blossomed at Virginia. For his two-year career, Morsell shot a mere 29.7 percent from the field and 20 percent from the 3-point arc. His strength was on the defensive end of the floor, but when he was in games he was not a reliable scorer, which surprised many considering his scoring ability in high school.