MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s first casualty of having a larger men’s basketball roster than normal came Monday.
Sophomore forward Taj Thweatt, a New Jersey high school product that signed with the Mountaineers in 2019, will enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.
The news was first reported by 247Sports and Thweatt’s name was taken off WVU’s official roster on the school’s web site.
In his first two seasons, Thweatt found playing time hard to come by with the Mountaineers.
He appeared in just 12 career games, never playing more than seven minutes or scoring more than three points in a game.
Thweatt played 23 minutes in nine games as a freshman and played 10 minutes in three games this season.
He was rated a 3-star prospect coming out of Wildwood (N.J.) Catholic and was part of the 2020 recruiting class that also included Isaiah Cottrell, Seny N’Diaye and junior-college guard Kedrian Johnson.
Like many teams this season, the Mountaineers (11-2) have more players due to the NCAA allowing an extra season of eligibility to players because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That allowed forward Gabe Osabuohien and guard Taz Sherman a fifth season in college to go along with 13 scholarship players.
With Osabuohien, WVU had an extra forward in a rotation that also includes Cottrell, N’Diaye, Jalen Bridges, freshmen Jamel King, and James Okonkwo, as well as transfers Pauly Paulicap and Dimon Carrigan.
Of that group, only Osabuohien, Carrigan and Paulicap will run out of eligibility after this season, and WVU has already signed forwards Josiah Harris and Patrick Suemnick as part of its 2022 recruiting class.
With Thweatt transferring, WVU has one more scholarship to give in the 2022 class.
That number could continue to change, depending on others who may transfer and decisions made by Johnson and Sean McNeil at the end of the season.
Johnson and McNeil are seniors, but are eligible to come back next season for a fifth season due to the NCAA pandemic rules.
Listed as a sophomore, Thweatt still has three seasons of eligibility remaining, due to NCAA pandemic rules.
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