LAVIN CONTINUES TO ADD PLAYERS

Steve Lavin added two new pieces to his basketball rebuilding job at the University of San Diego. One is a proven Pac-12 player, the other barely saw the floor in high school but according to a former NBA player, has tremendous upside potential.

Eric Williams Jr., a 6-foot-7 forward who started 32 games the past two seasons at Oregon, said Thursday that he will be transferring to USD. Alex Garcia, a 6-9 guard who saw little time at Cleveland’s St. Ignatius High, said he, too, is committing to the Toreros.

Williams will be a graduate transfer with one year of eligibility. He played his first two seasons at Duquesne, averaging 14.1 points and 8.2 rebounds.

After sitting out the 201920 season because of old NCAA transfer rules, Williams played the past two seasons at Oregon. He averaged 10 points and six rebounds as a redshirt junior. Those numbers dipped to 8.4 and 4.6 last season.

As to why he would leave Oregon, which was 20-15 last season, for a program that has had three winning seasons the last 13 years, Williams said, “Just new scenery. I want to be able to showcase myself in a new conference.

“Coach Lavin’s building something special. I want to be a part of it and help the culture.”

As for Garcia, he admitted that his lack of high school playing time made him “virtually a ghost to a lot of coaches.”

Garcia said as a ninthgrader at St. Ignatius he was was one of the last players off the bench on the freshman team.

The next year he was cut from the program. He said he as a junior he was on the JV the entire season.

As a senior in 2020-21, Garcia said he played about four minutes a game on a team that advanced to the Division I state playoff semifinals.

This past season, Garcia played at two basketball academies, one in Ohio, the other in Orlando, Fla., run by former 10-year NBA veteran, Marreese Speights.

Speights said that after the season Garcia played in three AAU tournaments where he was “destroying everyone.” Speights considers the 6-9 Garcia a combo shooting guard/small forward.