Texas Basketball: 5 best transfer portal targets at shooting guard

Josh Nickelberry, SG

There is one case where Beard was able to get a very potent addition to the backcourt rotation out of the transfer portal this offseason when he got a commitment out of the former five-star recruit and Kentucky Wildcats freshman guard Devin Askew. Texas is likely to need to do more of the same, though, given the lack of depth in the backcourt rotation right now.

A few different ways that Texas can go in the transfer portal at the shooting guard position could be interesting. Why Beard and the Longhorns need to be careful with who they could pursue at the two-guard in the portal is that they do have some depth here heading into next season.

Texas is set to bring back redshirt junior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones, senior sharpshooting guard Jase Febres, and junior guard Courtney Ramey for next season. If Texas wants to run Ramey at the point guard position, along with Askew, then that opens up one more spot at the two.

Using that to pursue another potent talent such as the former highly coveted four-star recruit and Louisville Cardinals sophomore shooting guard Josh Nickelberry could be the right way to go. Nickelberry has only played in just over 170 minutes total in his two seasons with the Cardinals, but there’s a lot of untapped potential left with him.

In his 15 games played with Louisville last season, Nickelberry averaged 2.8 points per game, 0.8 rebounds, 0.3 assists, no steals, and no blocks. And he shot 22.9 percent from the field, 21.9 percent from beyond the arc, and was perfect on six attempts from the charity stripe.