Top-10 transfer, Saint Mary’s star Paulius Murauskas to join Randy Bennett at ASU

Arizona State men’s basketball added a top-10 transfer on Tuesday with forward Paulius Murauskas, who reunites with head coach Randy Bennett after starring the past two seasons at Saint Mary’s, per On3’s Pete Nakos and CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz.

The 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward was the No. 9 player in the portal, according to 247 Sports. Louisville, one of the biggest spenders this transfer portal cycle, and Duke were among the interested teams ASU beat out for his services.

Prior to his two years at Saint Mary’s, he spent his freshman season at Arizona, where he averaged five minutes per game across 23 contests playing behind a rotation that included bigs Oumar Ballo and Motiejus Krivas, forward Keshad Johnson, plus guards Pelle Larsson and KJ Lewis. The Lithuanian spent a handful of seasons as a pro in his home country before that.

Murauskas averaged 18.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in 2025-26, his second First Team All-WCC season.

He’s at his best working out of the post, but can attack defenders off the dribble or put his head down and score himself in transition opportunities as well.

His 3-point shot steadily improved on decent volume for his position under Bennett, going from 29.2% as a sophomore to 33.3% as a junior (221 combined total attempts).

Paulius Murauskas a headliner for Randy Bennett’s 1st ASU roster

The biggest player addition for the Sun Devils this offseason, Murauskas, will help mitigate the transfer portal departures of Massamba Diop and others.

Murauskas joins previously committed players Joel Foxwell (Portland), Emmanuel Innocenti (Gonzaga), Marcus Vaughns (LSU), Nate Garcia (Cal Baptist) and JRob Croy (freshman previously committed to Saint Mary’s).

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