Texas Basketball: 3 new portal targets the Horns contacted this week

Matthew Cleveland, SF

Last week, I mentioned the idea of Terry and the Longhorns pursuing the former Florida State Seminoles lengthy 6-foot-7 and 200-pound sophomore small forward Matthew Cleveland in the portal. Cleveland is a toolsy wing that scores and rebounds the ball at a high level.

The 2021-22 ACC Sixth Man of the Year is coming off a career year at Florida State where he averaged around 14 points per game, seven rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block as a full-time starter. Cleveland’s sophomore campaign also saw him improve his shooting efficiency from deep and from the charity stripe. He shot a career-best 35 percent from deep and 70 percent from the free-throw line last season.

Cleveland is a multi-level scorer that has the length, vertical ability, and quick first step to create the necessary separation to pull up or drive to the hoop. He shoots the ball well from the corners and the elbow from three-point range (shot north of 40 percent from the corners and the elbows from deep last season).

On mid-range jumpers, Cleveland averaged .78 points per possession on around 40 percent shooting from the field (good for the 59th percentile among players at his position in the ACC). Cleveland’s slashing ability was also put on full display last season, as he shot better than 70 percent at the rim on drives through the lane (81st percentile at his position in the ACC).

And on the defensive end of the floor, Cleveland’s length makes him a bothersome presence in the passing lanes and in most one-on-one matchups. He also rebounds the ball on the defensive end of the floor at a very efficient clip. Cleveland ranked in the top 10 in the ACC last season in terms of defensive rebounding percentage, at a clip north of 21.0 percent.

It’s clear that Cleveland checks a lot of the boxes that Terry and the Longhorns would want out of a two-way wing with NBA-caliber physical tools. I think the main question with Cleveland would be whether Texas would prioritize his recruitment out of the portal over a guy like Battle.

While Cleveland is the lengthier player that probably brings more two-way upside to the table for the Longhorns, I think Battles is the more experienced and proven player, at least on the offensive end.

We know that Terry is valuing experience when evaluating portal targets this offseason. That may give the edge to Battle over Cleveland in terms of where Texas prioritizes each of these potent wings in the portal this spring.

Moreover, On3’s Joe Tipton tweeted on April 12 that Texas was one of the many schools that made contact with Cleveland soon after his name emerged in the portal last week. Some of the other schools interested in his services out of the portal are the Texas A&M Aggies, Miami Hurricanes, Indiana Hoosiers, Kansas State, and Arkansas.

If Texas really values what Cleveland brings to the table out of the portal ahead of the 2023-24 season, I think Terry and his staff will push in the next few days to get him on the books for a visit to Austin. We’ll continue to monitor Texas’ communication with Cleveland early this week as his recruitment really starts to heat up in the portal.