Courtesy of FGCUAthletics.com
DUNK CITY, Fla. – The FGCU men’s basketball team added another quality transfer to its roster on Tuesday when former VCU and Miami forward Michael Gilmore officially joined the Eagles, head coach Joe Dooley announced.
Following his sophomore season at VCU last year, Gilmore transferred to Miami over the summer where he had been sitting out with the Hurricanes before joining FGCU and starting classes for the spring semester on Tuesday.
Per NCAA transfer rules he must sit out two semesters, making the 6-foot-10 Gilmore eligible to begin playing with the Eagles in December of 2017 following completion of the fall semester. He will be eligible for the duration of the 2017-18 season and the entire 2018-19 campaign.
“We’re excited to have Michael join the program,” stated Dooley. “By joining us at this time, it’s going to afford him a great opportunity to learn our system and style of play. It’ll give him a good head start for next season, and we’re looking forward to having him on the court with us in December.”
As a sophomore at VCU in 2015-16, Gilmore started 18 games and averaged 3.2 points and 2.8 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per contest. His best performance, however, was saved for the biggest stage when he just missed a double-double with 12 points and eight rebounds in the NCAA Tournament Second Round against 2nd-seeded Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.
For his career at the Atlantic 10 school, Gilmore knocked down 47.9 percent (58-121) of his shots from the floor and was a 35.3-percent shooter from 3-point range in 55 games with the Rams.
Gilmore was teammates at VCU with current FGCU forward Antravious Simmons (Miami, Fla./South Miami HS) for the fall portion of the 2014-15 season before Simmons – then a redshirt freshman – transferred to FGCU in December of 2014. A native of Jacksonville, Gilmore will be the 11th player on FGCU’s current roster from the state of Florida.
“I am excited about joining the FGCU family and reuniting with many of the guys I played with or against in high school,” added Gilmore. “I’m looking forward to helping continue to build on Dunk City’s success and tradition.”
Gilmore played for the late Rex Morgan at Arlington Country Day School in Jacksonville before finishing his high school career at Rickards High School in Tallahassee under the tutelage of Eli Bryant.
Gilmore – the nephew of Naismith Hall of Famer and Jacksonville University product Artis Gilmore – was a three-star recruit coming out of high school and ranked as the 76th-best player in the country and 5th-best in the state of Florida by ESPN.com.
He played AAU ball with EITI (Fla.) and won the 2013 EYBL Peach Jam Championship – arguably the best AAU tournament in the nation – alongside future college stars Joel Berry (North Carolina), Grayson Allen (Duke) and Deangelo Russell (Ohio State).
FGCU – which is off to a 14-5 start, an RPI of 73 and alone at the top of the ASUN standings with a perfect 3-0 record – loses just two seniors to graduation this season in 6-foot-8 Marc-Eddy Norelia (Orlando, Fla./Tulane/Olympia HS) and 6-foot-9 Demetris Morant (Miami, Fla./UNLV/Bishop Gorman HS).
The Eagles already have a pair of high-major transfers who will be eligible in 2017-18 in 6-foot-10 Michigan transfer Ricky Doyle (Cape Coral, Fla./Bishop Verot HS) and 6-foot-6 Texas Tech transfer C.J. Williamson (Orlando, Fla./Evans HS). Additionally, FGCU has signed 6-foot-9 high school senior Brian Thomas (Marietta, Ga./Kell HS) to a National Letter of Intent.
After opening an ASUN schedule with three-consecutive road games for just the second time in program history, the Eagles will finally commence league action at home on Thursday, Jan. 19, when they welcome USC Upstate to Alico Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff. The Spartans are 12-8 overall and 2-1 in the ASUN after defeating Jacksonville on Saturday.
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