Former Oklahoma State forward Eric Dailey Jr. transfers to UCLA
Apr. 16—Oklahoma State basketball has lost its first men's basketball transfer of the offseason.
After playing his freshman season in Stillwater, Eric Dailey Jr. entered the transfer portal in late March amidst the firing of former head coach Mike Boynton. On Tuesday afternoon, Dailey took to social media to announce that he was transferring to UCLA.
"I want to thank coach Mike and the rest of the staff for giving me the opportunity to play at such a historic place like Oklahoma State with such an amazing community like Stillwater," he wrote. "I'm thankful to all the Oklahoma State donors and fans for supporting me and my teammates this year, even though we did not produce the outcome we wanted. I will forever be thankful for my time as a Cowboy.
"Due to recent changes to the program, I believed it would be best to explore other options to continue pursuing my dream of playing in the NBA."
Dailey visited UCLA with his parents last weekend and committed to the UCLA coaching staff during the visit, as reported by 247 Sports' David Woods. With the addition of Dailey, the Bruins now have the second-ranked transfer portal class in the country behind Illinois.
Coming out of high school, Dailey was a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 38 prospect in his class. He averaged 9.3 points and 4.8 rebounds per game in his single season with Oklahoma State. Dailey started 16 games and averaged 22 minutes per game.
When Oklahoma State announced the hiring of Steve Lutz as the new men's basketball coach, it was expected that several key players from last season's team would leave. Brandon Garrison, Quion Williams, Javon Small, Naz Brown and Justin McBride remain in the portal. Garrison was the first to enter nearly a month ago while McBride announced his entry on Monday.
With Dailey's departure, Lutz and his staff lose a young and athletic big with tons of upside. During his introductory press conference earlier this month, Lutz was honest about his evaluation of players currently in the portal. As of now, the Oklahoma State roster includes just three current scholarship players in Bryce Thompson, Jamyron Keller and Connor Dow.
