Arizona State picks up JUCO guard Malachi Davis in transfer portal

Arizona State men’s basketball coach Bobby Hurley got his first domino to fall in the transfer portal on Thursday in JUCO guard Malachi Davis.

The 6-foot-4 scorer out of Toronto, Canada, announced his commitment to the Sun Devils after spending the last three years at the junior college level.

The story continues… 🏜️🏁 @SunDevilHoops #Committed #JUCOPRODUCT #ForkEm 🔱 pic.twitter.com/7ByQH1cRRC

— Malachi Davis (@_malachidavis) March 30, 2023

Davis is coming off of a tear in the NJCAA Tournament in which he put up 31, 48, 33 and 31 points en route to a Final Four appearance for Tallahassee Community College.

6’4 PG Malachi Davis is the BEST scorer in JUCO!

Long, explosive, and athletic with terrific body control, ambidextrous finishing at the rim, & NBA range from deep.

48 PTS vs Salt Lake yesterday to will his team to the Elite Eight of the JUCO National Championships. pic.twitter.com/kOHrcZo8fX

— Yusuf Ali (@yu5ali) March 23, 2023

This season for the Eagles, the guard averaged 17.1 points per game on 50.5% shooting from the field and a 34.9% clip from three-point range. Davis also had 3.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds per contest while shooting 78.3% from the free throw line across 37 matchups.

With starter DJ Horne and key bench guys Jamiya Neal and Austin Nunez entering the transfer portal, the commitment from Davis provides immediate relief at the guard position for the Sun Devils. Backup center Enoch Boakye has also entered the portal.

Only the likes of starting point guard Frankie Collins and starting wing Devan Cambridge have made it known in terms of guys who have committed to next season’s ASU squad, with starting 7-foot center Warren Washington still eligible to return to Tempe. Leading scorer Desmond Cambridge Jr. and backup guard Luther Muhammad are the only two players from the 2022-23 team without any eligibity remaining.

Hurley said on Tuesday that he was going to be attacking the portal hard over these next five weeks, with the hopes that Arizona State will “have mostly everything in place” by the first week of May when it comes to the 2023-24 roster.

The eight-year head coach, who just received a two-year contract extension through the 2025-26 season, has proven he can recruit guys from the portal who can make an instant impact.

Just look at this past year’s starting lineup, 80% of which featured transfers in Collins (Michigan), Cambridge Jr. (Nevada), Cambridge (Auburn) and Washington (Nevada), which made it to Hurley’s third NCAA Tournament in seven seasons — which would have been four of eight had COVID-19 not canceled the 2020 edition.

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