Tennessee Basketball contacts USC transfer guard Desmond Claude
Tennessee Basketball reached out to USC transfer guard Desmond Claude on Wednesday, according to a report from Jeff Goodman. The 6-foot-5 rising senior averaged 15.8 points, 4.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds in 33 games with the Trojans last season.
Claude spent his first two seasons at Xavier and had a career year as a sophomore in 2023-24, when he averaged 16.6 points per game. He’s a career 27.1% 3-point shooter but shot 30.7% from three last season. He shot 48.2% from the floor and averaged 32.4 minutes per game while making 32 starts.
He was a four-star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class out of New Haven, Connecticut. He was ranked No. 78 overall in the On3 ratings, was the No. 8 point guard in the class and the No. 3 in-state prospect.
Tennessee is down to one roster spot to fill after adding French guard Clarence Massamba on April 30.
Five-star small forward Nate Ament, a consensus top-five player in the class, is the headliner in the recruiting class, along with four-star guard Amari Evans, four-star center Dewayne Brown and three-star point guard Troy Henderson.
The three NCAA Transfer Portal additions so far are Maryland point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, Vanderbilt power forward Jaylen Carey and Louisiana Tech guard Amaree Abram.
The Vols return just four scholarship players (Felix Okpara, Cade Phillips, JP Estrella and Bishop Boswell) after losing six seniors (Zakai Zeigler, Jordan Gainey, Chaz Lanier, Jahmai Mashack, Igor Milicic Jr. and Darlinstone Dubar).
Tennessee’s Transfer Portal Class
Gillespie, a Greeneville, Tenn., native, started all 36 games at Maryland this season, averaging 14.7 points and 4.8 assists in 31.6 minutes per game while shooting 45.3% from the floor and 40.7% from the 3-point line, where he made 87 of 214 attempts.
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Carey, the 6-foot-8, 245-pound sophomore, averaged 8.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 20.2 minutes per game at Vanderbilt this season.
Abram, a former top-100 prospect and four-star recruit who made previous stops at Ole Miss and Georgia Tech, averaged 12.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists at Louisiana Tech last season, shooting 42.2% from the field and 37.3% from the 3-point line.
Tennessee’s Recruiting Class
The 6-foot-9, 185-pound Ament committed to Tennessee on April 20, after picking the Vols over Duke, Kentucky, Louisville and Arkansas. He’s the No. 3 overall player in the On3 ratings and is the highest-ranked prospect to sign with Tennessee during the recruiting rankings era.
Evans is ranked No. 68 nationally, No. 20 at shooting guard and No. 7 in the state of Georgia, where he played in the Overtime Elite League in Atlanta.
Brown, out of Hoover, Ala., is ranked No. 100 overall. He’s the No. 10 center in the class and the No. 1 prospect in the state of Alabama.
Henderson, who committed to Tennessee in March and signed last week, is ranked No. 248 overall. He’s the No. 34 point guard in the class and the No. 13 player in the state of Virginia.
