Men’s basketball senior forward David Pellom has been granted a release from the team and sophomore forward Jonathan Davis intends to transfer from the Colonials, head coach Mike Lonergan said Tuesday.
Pellom’s release does not mean he will leave GW, Lonergan said, but that the forward is exploring his options. Pellom, a senior who has one year of eligibility left, could play right away as a graduate student transfer.
“We’re going to do whatever is best for him. Right after the season, we gave him his release and said, ‘hey, if you want to go look at other schools,'” Lonergan said. “We’d like to see him come back here and help us make the postseason and reach our goals, but he hasn’t played basketball in over a year and I’m not really sure what Dave’s thinking.”
Pellom did not take the court with the Colonials this season. Following a series of surgeries over the offseason, the athletics department announced that lingering issues in his left wrist would keep the forward sidelined for the remainder of 2012-13 competition. In his junior campaign, Pellom was GW’s leading rebounder, averaging 6.1 a game over 27 games played and set a single-season shooting record on 68.5 percent shooting.
“We’ve always done what’s best for him,” Lonergan said. “That’s something that will be decided in the next few weeks. I just wish he played this year. That was our goal, to get the freshmen some experience and by January have him join the team.”
Davis, a sophomore, has played 44 minutes over 23 games as a Colonial, averaging .4 points a game on 44.4 percent shooting and .3 rebounds per game. His decision to transfer, Lonergan said, is born of a desire to head to a program where he can have more of an impact – much like Isaiah Armwood’s thought process when transferring from Villanova to GW.
“Jonathan Davis, we met with a week ago. He’s a great guy,” Lonergan said. “With Jonathan, going into your third year, if you were ever going to go somewhere and play for them, you really had to make that move. We’re going to be sad to lose him as a friend and a teammate for our players.”
The news opens up at least one, and maybe two, roster slots for next year’s team. Nigel Johnson, who has verbally committed, and Nick Griffin, who signed a letter of intent, claimed two Colonial scholarships as 2013-14 recruits, while Skyler White has committed to the team as a walk-on forward.
