Georgia Basketball Lands Pair of Talented Transfers to Open Up Portal Class
Mike White and the Georgia basketball program picked up two talented transfer portal commitments over the last few days as they picked up pledges from Mount St. Mary's transfer guard De'Shayne Montgomery and App State transfer forward Justin Abson.
Montgomery is a 6'4, 190 pound guard originally from Fr. Lauderdale, FL who is coming off a strong Freshman season for the Mountaineers of Mount St. Mary's.
On the year in 2023/24, he averaged 13.2 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 2 APG, and 1.7 SPG while shooting 53.8% from the field and 41.2% from three. Montgomery won the MAAC Rookie of the Year Award for his efforts on the year. Montgomery chose Georgia over Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and USC.
He also notably scored 23 points with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals on 10/16 shooting when Mount St. Mary's played Georgia in non-conference play this past year.
His 3-point shooting ability will be a big boost for a Georgia team that ranked eighth in the SEC in 3-point shooting % last year and returns just 27.3% of their made 3's from last year (with most of that coming from Blue Cain).
Abson, also a Florida native, is one of the better defenders out of the portal, winning the Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Year Award this past season.
The 6'9, 235 pound Abson averaged 7.9 PPG, 7.1 RPG, and 2.8 BPG this past season while shooting 61.9% from the field. Abson's 2.8 blocks per game was tied for fourth nationally on the year. In his Freshman season in 2022/23, Abson averaged 6.2 PPG, 5.9 RPG, and 2.2 BPG on 60.6% shooting.
Abson will be an important piece down-low for Georgia next season, as he nearly matched Georgia's block per game numbers from last season by himself.
Abson was the anchor of an App State defense that tied for third nationally in lowest opponent Field Goal percentage allowed this pas season at 38.9% (trailing just Houston and Auburn). Abson chose Georgia over the likes of Xavier, Michigan, and Miami (FL).
This is an offseason of turnover for Georgia, but one that features some promise. The Dawgs are currently slated to return just four players from last year's team (this could obviously change at any moment), but three of them are last season's promising Freshman trio of Silas Demary Jr., Blue Cain, and Dylan James to go along with veteran Frank Anselem-Ibe.
Georgia is also bringing in one of the top High School players in the class of 2024 in five-star Asa Newell. The four returners, one incoming Freshman, and two current incoming transfers give Georgia six remaining scholarships spots open at the moment.
Looking forward, the Dawgs are in on former Kentucky signee Somto Cyril as they try to round out their 2024 High School recruiting class.
Georgia has also been heavily involved in the transfer portal, including one of Montgomery's teammates from Mount St. Mary's in Dakota Leffew, along with some former Georgia natives such as Clemson transfer RJ Godrey and Vanderbilt transfer Tyrin Lawrence among others.