Cone the second Hokie to transfer

After an injury-shortened season at Virginia Tech, Jalen Cone became the second Hokies guard this week to enter the NCAA transfer portal.

Cone, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, revealed his plans Thursday via a message posted to his Twitter account. He joins freshman guard Joe Bamisile, who announced his decision Monday to enter the portal, as players preparing to leave Coach Mike Young’s program.

In 15 games this season, including four starts, Cone averaged 9.2 points per game and shot 34.9% from 3-point range. He suffered an ankle injury Feb. 6 and didn’t play in Tech’s last four games.

Establishing himself right away as a dangerous perimeter shooter after connecting on an ACC-best 45.7% of his 3-point shots as a freshman in the 201920 season, Cone continued to develop a reputation as a scorer he first showed at Walkertown High in Walkertown, North Carolina. He averaged 25.7 points and six assists per game as a senior in high school and 35.5 points per game as a junior.

Many analysts considered him one of the nation’s top 10 point guards and top 100 overall players coming out of high school in the 2019 class. He considered scholarship offers from Tennessee, N.C. State, Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Boston College before choosing Tech.

Without Bamisile and Cone, Tech still has Tyrece Radford, Nahiem Alleyne, Hunter Cattoor and Darius Maddox returning to its backcourt. Incoming freshman Sean Pedulla from Edmond, Oklahoma, and graduate transfer Storm Murphy, who averaged 17.8 points and 4.3 assists per game this season at Wofford, are joining the Hokies.

Senior starting point guard Wabissa Bede and graduate transfer Cartier Diarra, who opted out this season after just four games, haven’t announced whether they’ll be back next season.