Breaking News: Indiana's Damezi Anderson to Enter NCAA Transfer Portal

Damezi Anderson, a sophomore from South Bend, has decided to leave Indiana after two seasons, entering the NCAA transfer portal.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana sophomore Damezi Anderson, the all-time leading scorer in South Bend high school history who has struggled to find his way with the Hoosiers during his first two years, has decided to transfer.

Anderson announced his decision on Thursday that he was entering the NCAA's transfer portal. He will have to sit out a year if he transfers to another Division I school, unless he files for a waiver. 

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Here is Anderson's complete statement:

Never Thought I'd Ever Do This. I want to say thank you to my Brothers, all the managers and the coaching staff for allowing me to be a part of an amazing University. I want to thank Lo for pushing me to be the best version of myself in the classroom and actually seeing something in my that wasn't just basketball. I am thankful for everything she has done for me. I want to thank everyone who has supported me and followed me through this process, I appreciate it more than anything. After some long talks and coming to an agreement as a family, we feel that entering the Transfer Portal is what's best for us. Love, Hoosiers.

Anderson got plenty of playing time early in the season, but it disappeared after he struggled to score. Those struggles were off the charts the last half of the season. He didn't make a single basket during the last three months of Indiana's season. The 6-foot-7 forward missed his last 18 shots from Dec. 10 on, over a span of 82 minutes of playing time.

Anderson played in 18 games this season, but most of that came early in the year when Indiana was short-handed at guard with injuries to Devonte Green and Rob Phinisee — and even Al Durham for a few days. But his playing time dipped considerably after the first of the year.

There's also no guarantee it was going to get any better when you consider that all three Indiana recruits in the Class of 2020 are wing players. He would have had to compete for playing time with Anthony Leal, Trey Galloway and Jordan Geronimo, which seems unlikely.

Anderson finished the 2019-20 season shooting just 31.5 percent from the field and just 21.9 percent from three-point range.

The highlights of his season came early in the year. His best night came in the 100-62 win over Troy in November, when he scored 14 points in just 16 minutes in the rout. He was 6-for-9 from the field, and was 2-for-4 from three-point range.

Anderson was getting plenty of playing time early because of all the injuries. In Indiana's first three games — Troy was the third — he averaged 18 minutes a game and shot 11-for-16 from the field (68.8 percent) and 4-for-8 (50 percent) from three-point range. It was a great start to the season.

His lack of playing time might have had something to do with his frigid shooting, but when you miss 18 shots in a row, it's hard for Indiana coach Archie Miller to keep him out on the floor. Of his 18 shots, 14 were three-point attempts. 

As recently as nine days ago, Anderson's former coach at South Bend Riley, Eric Brand, told Sports Illustrated Indiana that Anderson was still fully committed to Indiana.

According to sources, Anderson has had several conversations with Indiana coach Archie Miller since the season ended abruptly in mid-March. 

Anderson told Kevin Brockway of CHNI that the move had a lot to do with playing time.

Just got off the phone with Damezi Anderson, who confirmed playing time played a role in his decision to leave, said he feels given the right opportunity he can get back to being the player he was in high school #iubb

— KevinBrockwayGators (@KevinBrockwayG1) April 23, 2020