Texas Basketball: 3 former Texas Tech transfers the Longhorns can pursue

Marcus Santos-Silva, PF

As one of the most underrated big men in the Big 12 for the 2020-21 campaign is the former Red Raiders and VCU Rams 6-foot-7 and 245 pound senior big man Marcus Santos-Silva. This is the second time in his college career that Santos-Silva has put his name into the transfer portal. The next landing spot is likely to be his final one in college.

There’s a lot of depth that needs to be made up from the Longhorns this offseason. They’ve lost the likes of breakthrough sophomore power forward Kai Jones and freshman power forward and former elite five-star recruit Greg Brown to the NBA Draft in all likelihood before the start of next season. And senior big man Jericho Sims is likely gone too.

Santos-Silva was a gem find for VCU back with their 2017 recruiting class. He ranked as the nation’s No. 306 2017 high school prospect, No. 77 power forward, and the No. 3 prospect out of Vermont (247Sports Composite). He wound up as one of the true gem finds among three-star recruits for that cycle.

More often than not, Santos-Silva played at the four or the five for the Red Raiders last season. In 29 games played for Texas Tech last season, Santos-Silva averaged 8.3 points per game, 6.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks. And he shot 53.1 percent from the field and 57.8 percent from the free-throw line.