Pitt guard Avery Strickland announced that she is transferring back home to play for Tennessee next season in a Twitter post on Tuesday
Strickland played one season for the Panthers as a freshman. She was one of five Panthers to play in all 30 games in the 2022-23 season and she started in 11 games.
She averaged 6.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game in her first season. Strickland excelled from 3-point range, making a team-high 39 shots from behind the arc and making 33.9% of her attempts.
Strickland joins a litany of players who have left following the dismissal of former head coach Lance White in early March.
Pitt fired White for poor performance after five seasons as at the helm. White accrued a record of 42-99, the worst five-year stretch of any head coach in Panthers history. Athletic Director Heather Lyke found the new Pitt head coach in Tory Verdi,who has led Eastern Michigan and UMass from the bottom to the top of their conferences as head coach of those programs.
Nine Pitt players entered the transfer portal soon after his departure and Class of 2023 recruit Hannah Watson decommitted from the program on Monday to made it 10 players who have left.
Former guard Dayshanette Harris announced her transfer to Clemson on Sunday, while forwards in Amber Brown and Maliyah Johnson transferred to St. John’s and Houston, respectively, this offseason as well.
Strickland did consider Pitt when she announced her intent to transfer back in March. She ultimately chose to go back to her home state of Tennessee and back to Knoxville, which is her hometown and where the University of Tennessee is.
The list below shows the players that have placed their name in the transfer portal and those that are staying for the next season.
The remaining players who are in the transfer portal will not return to Pitt and will find other schools in the near future.
Pitt Transfers/Decommits
Guard
Graduate Dayshanette Harris: one year (Clemson)
Graduate Emy Hayford: one year
Graduate Destiny Strother: one year
Senior Sandrine Clesca: two years
Senior Taisha Exanor: two years
Sophomore Avery “Ace” Strickland: three years (Tennessee)
Forward
Graduate forward Amber Brown: one year (St. John’s)
Redshirt senior Cynthia Ezeja: two years
Junior Maliyah Johnson: two years (Houston)
First-year Hannah Watson: four years (Toronto Metropolitan)
2023-24 Pitt Roster + eligibility
Guards
Sophomore Marley Washenitz: three years
Sophomore Aislin Malcolm: three years
First-year Jasmine Timmerson: four years
Forward
Senior Gabby Hutcherson: two years
Senior Liatu King: two years
First-year Lauren Rust: four years
Are they going to have to skip the season? At the rate they’re going it maybe the only option till they fill the roster up!