UConn target chooses Baylor

Graduate transfer DiJonai Carrington committed to Baylor on Monday night, taking a potential target off the table for UConn in 202021.

The 5-foot-11 guard from Stanford also considered Oregon. She will be immediately eligible.

“I’m super confident in this decision. I think it’s a wellthought-out one,” Carrington said after announcing her intentions on Fox 5 San Diego.

Carrington was on preseason watch lists for the Wade Trophy, Naismith Trophy and Wooden Award, but played in only five games last season after aggravating a knee injury. However, she averaged 14 points and 7.5 rebounds the year prior and made the All-Pac 12 regular season and tournament teams. The San Diego native was considered the second-best graduate transfer on the market by ESPN.

Certainly, Carrington would’ve supplied a young Huskies team with more depth. The Huskies lost six players, including starters Megan Walker (early WNBA entrant) and Crystal Dangerfield, and currently don’t have a senior on next year’s roster.

But she’ll head to Baylor to play for Kim Mulkey, who has had resounding success with graduate transfers — Te’a Cooper (South Carolina) and Chloe Jackson (LSU) — each of the last two seasons. In her limited time on the floor last year, Carrington averaged 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds. That included a season high 16-point effort in a win over San Francisco on Nov. 9.

“The coaching staff is incredible,” Carrington said. “I feel like they really care about me as a person. I feel like they’re going to have my back.”

“UConn and Oregon were obviously great schools, too,” she added later on Instagram Live. “But I felt a fit at Baylor. I felt it fit me as a player and a person.”

Where the Huskies go from here remains uncertain. The COVID-19 pandemic has complicated recruiting efforts throughout women’s basketball, with coaches prohibited from communicating with prospects in-person. The NCAA recently extended its so-called “dead period” through at least June 30.

As it stands now, the Huskies have 10 players on next year’s roster. Five of them are freshmen, including Minnesota point guard Paige Bueckers, the consensus No. 1 overall prospect. And there’s also Evina Westbrook, who sat out this past season after

transferring from Tennessee.

NUMBERS GAME

Per UConn, the incoming freshmen will wear the following numbers in 202021: Bueckers (5), Aaliyah Edwards (3), Piath Gabriel (32), Mir McLean (11) and Nika Muhl (10).

WALKER, WILLIAMS TO TEAM UP OVERSEAS

Former Huskies Megan Walker and Gabby Williams have signed to play with Sopron Basket of the Hungarian League following the conclusion of the WNBA season — should it be held. Both deals were announced last week.

Carrington