Texas sophomore guard Sheldon McClellan plans to transfer, a Texas spokesman confirmed to The Daily Texan on Wednesday.
McClellan led the Longhorns with 13.5 points per game last season and becomes the second Texas player to transfer in as many weeks. Sophomore forward Jaylen Bond announced his intentions to transfer last Monday.
McClellan was in and out of head coach Rick Barnes’ doghouse all year long. Three times he was held scoreless while playing fewer than 10 minutes, responding with big games each time. McClellan averaged 20.7 points per game during a three-game winning streak earlier this month but scored just five points in a loss to Kansas State in the Big 12 tournament and six points on 2-for-13 shooting from the floor in a season-ending, 73-72 defeat to Houston in the first round of the CBI last Wednesday.
McClellan has filed the paperwork to request his release from the team and is waiting on Texas to grant it. A Texas spokesman said he doesn’t foresee any issues in processing the paperwork and making the transfer official soon.
The Houston native averaged 11.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game as a freshman two seasons ago. He was a 44.8 percent shooter that season, connecting on 31 percent of his three-point attempts that year, but McClellan shot just 38.2 percent from the floor this past season and 27.3 percent from beyond the arc.
“When he’s dialed in, there’s no doubt he’s a guy that can go get points in a lot of different ways,” Barnes said of McClellan last month. “When he’s lazy and floating around, people are there and he’s not set. He’s not ready. That’s when he struggles.”
In the game after being held scoreless in just seven minutes of a 78-65 loss to Oklahoma State in Stillwater on March 2, McClellan scored 23 points on 9-for-14 shooting while knocking down three three-pointers in a 79-70 win over Baylor on senior night. In three contests after not scoring a single point, McClellan averaged 18.7 points and shot 57.1 percent from the floor.
“I don’t really think about it,” McClellan said of being benched after the victory over the Bears. “I just move on to the next game and try to help my team to get the win. I just try to stay positive. It is not about me. It is about the team.”
Bond and McClellan could be joined by sophomore point guard Myck Kabongo in leaving Texas soon. Kabongo, a projected second-round pick by DraftExpress, averaged 14.6 points in the 11 games he played after serving a 23-game suspension.
Texas finished this past season with a record of 16-18, by far, the worst under Barnes, who led the Longhorns to the NCAA Tournament in his first 14 years on the job before missing out this season.
