The top remaining player on college basketball’s transfer market is heading to Virginia.
Former Memphis forward Austin Nichols, who averaged 13.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game for the Tigers in 2014-15, announced that he will join the Cavaliers.
Nichols will have to sit out this season as part of the NCAA’s transfer rules, but he will have two years of eligibility left starting in 2016-17.
More from ESPN:
Memphis Tigers transfer Austin Nichols is joining the Virginia Cavaliers, he told ESPN Radio on Sunday.
Virginia coach Tony Bennett announced the transfer Monday, saying Nichols is a “great fit for our program and system.”
Nichols had strongly considered Virginia coming out of high school.
After hiring a lawyer, the 6-foot-9 forward was given an unconditional release by Memphis earlier this month, making the former top-25 recruit free to accept a scholarship from any Division I program.
Sources told ESPN that Virginia had been high atop Nichols’ list of suitors because of a connection between his former summer coach, Ernie Kuyper, and the family of John Paul Jones — whom Virginia’s arena is named after. Kuyper runs an event in Memphis called the Jack Jones Shootout.
