Missouri junior guard Pinson transferring to LSU

BATON ROUGE — Missouri guard Xavier Pinson, who averaged 13.6 points, 2.9 assists and 2.7 rebounds a game as a junior this past season, narrowed the list of schools he was considering transferring to down to four on April 4 — Nebraska, Georgia, Arkansas and Auburn.

But when LSU lost three of its top four scorers after guard Javonte Smart and forwards Trendon Watford and Darius Days on three consecutive days announced their intentions to head to the NBA, the Tigers were suddenly in play to get Pinson, who announced Sunday he would choose between Kansas and LSU as his destination after entering the NCAA transfer portal.

On Monday, Pinson posted to his Instagram account that he was going to join the LSU basketball team with a photo of himself in an LSU jersey, next to a photo of LSU coach Will Wade, with the word COMMITTED across the bottom of the photo.

Shortly after Mizzou was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, Pinson posted to Instagram, “Mizzou, words couldn’t thank you enough. I’m just a kid from the west side of Chicago, Illinois and the fans we had accepted me with open arms. Happy I can say I spent 3 years at this AWESOME university.”

Pinson started 49 games and played in 88 at Missouri, and started 26 of 26 games as a junior. He shot 42.6 percent from the floor, 33.6 percent from beyond the 3-point arc and 83.7 percent at the free throw line. He was second on the team in scoring and first in field goal attempts and 3-point attempts.

Arkansas and Auburn both added transfer guards shortly after Pinson had narrowed his list of destinations to four. Auburn added Wendell Green Jr. from Eastern Kentucky, and the Razorbacks signed Miami guard Chris Lykes and Pittsburgh guard Au’Diese Toney.

Missouri, which saw five players enter the transfer portal after the season, has added three transfers since the end of the season — DeJuan Gordon of Kansas State, Amari Davis of Green Bay and Boogie Coleman of Ball State.