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Inside look at why Donovan Dent is transferring to UCLA

On Tuesday, junior point guard Donovan Dent, a Riverside native, announced he was transferring from New Mexico after leading them to their first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014, where he averaged 20.5 points and 6.4 assists per game, earning him Mountain West Conference Player of the Year honors.
Dent's decision to transfer stemmed from a desire to return to Southern California and play in a system that would prominently feature him, influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on his recruitment and the departure of Coach Pitino to Xavier.
Dent, ranked as the No. 1 available player in the transfer portal, will join a UCLA Bruins roster that had a 23-11 season and is retaining three of its five starters, after their second-round NCAA Tournament loss to Tennessee.
According to Josh Giles, Dent's high school coach at Corona Centennial, Dent was really infatuated with Kentucky during the recruitment process but knows his worth and wouldn't settle for a team that significantly altered his playstyle; Giles stated, "I personally think that he was the most underrated and under-recruited high school basketball player I've ever been around."
Despite his reputation as a stickler, UCLA coach Mick Cronin adapted to secure Dent's commitment, suggesting a shift in his approach to the modern NCAA landscape, as reflected in his statement, "Continuity is irrelevant if you don't have talent.

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Inside look at why Donovan Dent is transferring to UCLA

LOS ANGELES — This season, Donovan Dent led New Mexico to its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014. He averaged 20.5 points and 6.4 assists per game, both ranking in the top 15 nationally, and was named Player of the Year in the Mountain West Conference. On Tuesday, when the junior point guard announced he was transferring, he earned the No. 1 rank of any available player in the portal. Simply put, when it came to choosing where he’d play hi…

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