Mac McClung, Georgetown’s leading scorer, is entering transfer portal

Guard Mac McClung, Georgetown's leading scorer last season as a sophomore, said Wednesday he will enter the NCAA transfer portal.

The move is the latest turn in an eventful few weeks for the athletic 6-foot-2 guard from Gate City, Virginia. McClung, who averaged 15.7 points in 2019-20 while battling foot injuries, also has tested the waters of going to the NBA but has maintained his NCAA eligibility.

“Mac was an integral piece of our program and when he let me know his decision I was disappointed,” Hoyas coach Patrick Ewing said in a statement. “But he needs to do what's best for him, I want to wish him luck in his future endeavors. Moving forward, our focus is the core that we have coming back and our incoming class.”

The transfer seemed to take Ewing by surprise. Last week, the coach said McClung, named to the Big East's all-freshmen team in 2018-19, had abandoned his NBA plans for now and decided to return to school. He later said “maybe I spoke to soon” about McClung's plans to turn pro.

Ewing's original statement may have led to some frustrations from McClung and his camp as he continued to meet with NBA teams. His representatives, Hazan Sports Management, quickly put out a tweet contradicting the coach and said McClung had not notified anyone from Georgetown of his intentions to withdraw or return to the university. Eight days later, McClung informed them of his plan to transfer.

“The feedback that he got from [NBA] teams was that they wanted to see him facilitating more,” agent Daniel Hanzan

said. “Being more of a point guard role, etc. I'm not saying he couldn't have gotten that at Georgetown, but he didn't showcase that at Georgetown. He didn't get the opportunity really to showcase that.”

ESPN was the first to report McClung's transfer. “It was a number of different events that made me feel I had no choice but to transfer from Georgetown,” McClung told ESPN. “I really wanted to stay, but things throughout my career made me realize that I couldn't.”

McClung's departure is the latest chapter in a drama-filled 2019-20 for the Hoyas. He is the fifth player to transfer since December, leaving the Hoyas just two returning starters. The most notable departure before McClung was point guard James Akinjo, the 2018-19 Big East freshman of the year, who transferred to Arizona in December.