Biruta Transferring away from Mike Rice and Rutgers

It’s been a busy couple of days on the college basketball transfer market, and another name has been added to the list.

Rutgers power forward Gilvydas Biruta will transfer after two seasonsat the New Jersey school, and as a sophomore he was the lone player to start all 32 games. Biruta will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Biruta, who committed to Rutgers while Fred Hill was the head coach, wanted to re-open his recruitment after Hill was fired by athletic director Tim Pernetti convinced him to remain a Scarlet Knight.

The native of Lithuania became one of Mike Rice’s favorite players but had issues this season adjusting to the guard-heavy system. Rutgers’ young guards struggled at times to get Biruta the ball, which in turn helped stunt his development after moving from center to power forward after the 2010-11 campaign.

Two possible destinations that have already come up are Maryland and Rhode Island. The new head coach at URI is Dan Hurley, who coached Biruta at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, N.J.

Rutgers loses a key component to their interior rotation but they won’t lack for bodies next season.

Kansas State transfer Wally Judge will join returnees Kadeem Jack, Greg Lewis, Derrick Randall and Austin Johnson up front, and Rutgers now has an extra scholarship should they decided to bring in another forward.

Story Courtesy of NBC Sports