TCU basketball signee no longer headed to Fort Worth, opts for pros

The TCU men’s basketball program has regained another scholarship for next season, school officials said Tuesday, with the acknowledgement that forward Andre Pierce will not join the program.

Pierce, a junior-college transfer who signed in April, has opted to pursue a career in professional basketball rather than play at the Division I level, based on a report by tcu.247sports.com. Pierce, a 6-foot-10 native of Jacksonville, Fla., averaged 9.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game last season at Lee College in Baytown.

His departure creates a scholarship vacancy for coach Jamie Dixon on the 2017-18 roster. TCU still have five newcomers set to join the returning nucleus from last year’s 24-15 team that won an NIT championship.

Among the Horned Frogs’ newcomers next season will be two upperclassmen: forward Ahmed Hamdy (6-9, 240), a graduate transfer from VCU, along with guard Shawn Olden, a 6-3 transfer from New Mexico Junior College. The Frogs also landed three signees from the high school ranks (forward Lat Mayen, guard R.J. Nembhard and center Kevin Samuel). Forward Kouat Noi, a forward from Australia who redshirted last season, also will be in the mix for playing time.

TCU returns its top six scorers, including all five starters, from its NIT championship team.

This story was originally published June 6, 2017 at 10:54 AM with the headline "TCU basketball signee no longer headed to Fort Worth, opts for pros."