Texas Basketball: Former 5-Star C recruit Will Baker enters transfer portal

A huge part of the 2019 Texas basketball recruiting class landed in the transfer portal this weekend, with former 5-Star C Will Baker.

There was a lot of writing on the wall that the Texas basketball program could see their former top rated recruit from the 2019 signing class, sophomore center Will Baker, enter the NCAA Transfer Portal in the near future. Not a whole lot of success was found for Baker out of the gates in his college career, as the fit with head coach Shaka Smart just might not have worked out.

Nonetheless nothing will make losing such a talented and potent big man like Baker to the transfer portal easier for Smart and the Longhorns. This is the biggest loss that the Longhorns had to the transfer portal since it first came about a couple of years ago.

The good news for Smart and the Longhorns is that they have a plethora of other options to turn to in the frontcourt rotation. Baker had sat out the Longhorns regular season opener, in a dominant win over the UTRGV Vaqueros by the final score of 91-55 back on Nov. 25 at home at the Frank Erwin Center, anyway.

There were multiple sources that reported Baker’s name to surface in the transfer portal on the morning of Nov. 28. This does mean that the Longhorns get some clarity in figuring out their frontcourt rotation. They had a lot of pieces to fall into place heading into the 2020-21 season.

Baker played in 23 games during the shortened 2019-20 college hoops season (none of which he started in). And he averaged 2.1 points per game, 1.9 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.2 steals, and 0.1 blocks. Baker shot 27.5 percent from the field, 15.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

Since he didn’t play in the Longhorns season opening win over UTRGV earlier this week, Baker doesn’t have any stats from the current campaign.

Coming out of Westlake High School right in the Longhorns backyard in Austin, TX, Baker was the highest rated signee in the 2019 recruiting class. He ranked as the nation’s No. 35 2019 high school prospect, No. 9 center, and No. 5 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite).

Next up for Smart and the Longhorns this season will be a battle with the Davidson Wildcats in the Maui Invitational (moved to Asheville, NC, this year) on Nov. 30. They will now be traveling to the mountains in North Carolina without Baker.