BREAKING: Johnny Juzang has entered the transfer portal

Kentucky guard Johnny Juzang is looking for a new home. This afternoon, the 6-foot-6 guard out of Los Angles, CA announced he would be entering the NCAA transfer portal and leaving the University of Kentucky. "What a ride," Juzang said on his Twitter page. "The last year at Kentucky was one of the best experiences of my life. I grew so much not only as a player, but as a young man as well. I'd like to thank all my coaches, my brothers, the trainers, the staff, BBN, and everyone who made this year so special. From the bottom of my heart I'm going to miss this place. "With lots of thought and consideration, I've decided to put my name into the transfer portal." https://twitter.com/JohnnyJuzang/status/1243625292473585664?s=20 As a freshman, Juzang finished the year averaging 2.9 points (37.7% shooting, 32.6% 3PT, 83.3% FT), 1.9 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 12.3 minutes per contest. In 13 games this year, the 6-foot-6 guard played less than ten minutes, including six games with five minutes or fewer and one game with zero minutes (Alabama). He also went scoreless in ten other instances compared to just seven games of more than one made shot. After a slow start to the year, though, the freshman guard managed three consecutive games of multiple made shots against Arkansas, Georgia, and Texas Tech, followed it up with a 13-point performance on 4-4 shooting from three at Tennessee, and closed out the season with a 10-point, 4-6 shooting effort in 33 minutes at Florida. During a video conference with reporters on Tuesday, Calipari raved about Juzang and the progress he made to close out his first year in Lexington. “By the end of the year, he had stepped in,” Calipari said. “The one thing I’ll tell you about Johnny is that he was not afraid, never was that an issue. But, in this game that you play, most of it is conquering yourself first before you worry about conquering anybody else. “This was all new to him. He had never played at this pace, he had never fought like he had to fight, he had never had to be in a position defensively where you must guard,” Calipari continued. “If they’re going at you every play, you personally, you can’t be in that game. He, as the season went on, each week that went by, he learned and got better and better. I remember us in the Tennessee game when he did what he did. I remember how he played the last game at Florida. But he was a freshman.” After seeing the 6-foot-6 guard out of Los Angeles, CA make a difference on the floor to close out the season, Calipari hoped Juzang would follow in the footsteps of Quickley, Hagans, and EJ Montgomery, among other multi-year players, who had built upon short spurts of success in year one into consistent production. “Now he knows. The anxiety a freshman has, you can talk to Immanuel [Quickley], or Ashton [Hagans], or EJ [Montgomery], that a sophomore does not have in this program is incredible,” Calipari said of Juzang. “Knowing that each game is the other team’s Super Bowl, that every practice matters, you’re not going through the motions, you don’t take days off. There’s no, “I’m not feeling it today.” Woah, woah, woah, that’s okay, you’re just not going to be a significant player for us. ... All that stuff that you learn through that freshman year is why guys come back in their sophomore years and you say “Wow.” Big steps up.” Instead of seeing what he could bring to the table as a sophomore, Juzang will now explore his transfer options.