The Penn State basketball program has suffered its second defection in as many days, as the team announced in a press release on Thursday night that freshman guard Trey Lewis will transfer from the program. He joins fellow guard Matt Glover, who announced his decision to move on Wednesday.
"Trey and I met after the conclusion of the season and the result of those conversations was that we both felt it would be best for him to continue his career at another program," coach Patrick Chambers said in the release. "Trey is a skilled player and a nice young man. We wish him the best as he moves forward with his career and we will assist him however we can in finding the right fit for him."
Lewis' Nittany Lion career started off with a bang. He scored 17 points in the home opener against Hartford on Nov. 12 and backed that up with nine points against Radford on Nov. 14.
An ankle injury forced him to limit his minutes during the end of the non-conference schedule and a back injury caused him to miss 11 games during the Big Ten schedule, however, preventing him from finding a regular role in the rotation.
As it was, Lewis averaged 5.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game in Blue and White. He shot 34.7 percent from 3-point territory, good for second on the team behind departing senior Cammeron Woodyard, leaving the Lions with a real lack of threats from downtown.
"I would like to thank my teammates and coaches for the past season at Penn State," Lewis said of his decision in the release. "I had a great experience at Penn State and learned a lot with the opportunity to play in the Big Ten as freshman. After thinking about my future, I think it is best for me to move on and continue my career at a program that may be a better fit for me."
Chambers now has four scholarships to fill for next season. The pair vacated by Glover and Lewis the past two days joins the pair vacated by junior Billy Oliver, who retired in February after re-occuring concussion symptoms, and Peter Alexis, who had previously decided to seek transfer as well.
It's expected that walk-on Nick Colella, who saw signifcant minutes this past season, will fill one of those scholarships. Look for Penn State to target at least one shooting guard with the other three, as the pressure is really on to find some threat from deep to open up the floor for leading scorer Tim Frazier.
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