Ljeskovic, Buffkin transferring from Coastal Carolina basketball program

Coastal Carolina men’s basketball coach Cliff Ellis now has two extra scholarships to work with this offseason with two players deciding to transfer out of the program, he confirmed Monday.

Veteran 6-foot-8 forward Uros Ljeskovic, who is set to complete his undergraduate degree in August with one year of eligibility remaining, and 6-foot-10 center Kyle Buffkin, who has two years of eligibility left, will both look for new opportunities after seeing limited action with the Chanticleers last season.

Ljeskovic said the bigger factor for him was a desire to pursue a graduate degree in physical therapy that is not offered at Coastal Carolina while Buffkin said he realized his best chance for more playing time was likely with another program.

Ellis said he will consider available options for those two spots, but he reiterated that he feels the Chants are well positioned regardless.

“We’re not going to just take anybody. We’re going to take it as it comes. If we get the right fit, we’ll take it,” Ellis said. “We’re in good shape with who we have coming back and who we have [coming in]. We’re looking for the right ones and the right fit.”

Ljeskovic started the first six games for Coastal Carolina last season at the 5-spot before losing that role to Tristian Curtis and falling out of the rotation entirely. Ellis said during the season that Ljeskovic’s lack of playing time was due mostly to a lingering back injury, and the forward acknowledged Monday that while he could have played, he didn’t believe he would have been at full strength due to nagging lower back pain.

Still, his diminished role – he appeared in only eight games all season while averaging a career-low 11.4 minutes in those contests despite posting career highs of 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds per game – nonetheless fed into his decision as well, he admitted. But he emphasized that wasn’t the main reason and that it simply didn’t make sense for him to take more classes at Coastal Carolina that weren’t moving him toward the graduate degree he desires.

Athletes are permitted to transfer without having to sit out a year if they have already graduated and are pursuing a graduate degree not available at their current school, so Ljeskovic would be able to contribute to his new program next season as a senior.

Overall, he said he and Ellis are on the same page and have had productive conversations about what’s best for his future.

“We have a great relationship actually,” Ljeskovic said. “He’s a great coach and he knows all about basketball so I can’t say anything about that, and he’s helping me find another school. ... We kind of got the idea together. I asked him what I should do. He asked me what I wanted to do with my school. I told him I wanted to [study physical therapy, which Coastal Carolina doesn’t offer as a graduate program]. Together we came up with the best thing might be to transfer.”

Said Ellis: “He’s graduating early and he’s in a position with that graduation where he can do several things. He wanted to look at opportunities where he might be able to play some more and I didn’t disagree with that, but I think the most important thing is he’s getting his degree, which gives him the opportunity to look and do things. He didn’t play as much this year as he has in the past and with the guys we have coming back, it gives him an opportunity. ... Happy for him, but the main thing is we blessed it because he’s getting a degree.”

Ljeskovic, who said his back is feeling good now, finishes his Coastal Carolina career with averages of 3.0 points, 2.8 rebounds and 12.2 minutes per game over 17 starts and 66 total games played. He set a career-high with 14 points as a sophomore against Gardner-Webb.

He spent this past weekend visiting with the basketball program at Portland State in Oregon, but he said he’s not in a hurry to make a decision and expects to visit a few more schools. He wants to visit his family in his native Montenegro first before hoping to pick a new school in early June. He still has a summer internship to finish here first, so that is another reason why he’s content to take his time with the decision.

Ljeskovic also mentioned the opportunity of returning to Montenegro to pursue a professional basketball career if he can’t find the right fit at another college.

Wherever he ends up, though, he said it will be tough to leave the friends and relationships he’s built with the Chants.

“It’s exciting and sad at the same time because I made some really good friends here,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to leave them, but it’s also exciting for me to go to a new place and just experience more. I’ve been to Portland and it’s just a completely different culture. ...

“The Coastal experience is something I will never forget. It’s something you will remember for the rest of your life. The friends I made here, connections I made with all the coaches, teammates, it’s basically family. And [it’s been] probably the biggest accomplishment in my life because going to the [NCAA] tournament is a huge accomplishment not a lot of people get to [experience].”

Buffkin was also a part of the Chants’ back-to-back NCAA tournament teams while seeing limited playing time in 24 games over the last two seasons. He averaged 4.6 minutes in 11 games this past season while totaling two points and 10 rebounds. Like Ljeskovic, he did not see any action in the NCAA tournament game against No. 1 seed Wisconsin.

“For me, I feel like I’ve had a great two years here at Coastal and everything, but personally I just want to have a good opportunity to play,” Buffkin said. “After my meeting with coach and stuff, I realized there was a great possibility I would probably be sitting out [a lot again] next year so with my time winding down maybe it would be best for me to go play my last two years [elsewhere] and enjoy basketball as much as I can.”

Buffkin said he’s mostly received interest from Division II schools and NAIA programs with some contact at the Division I level and hopes to make a decision in the next two to three weeks. He said he has nothing but positive feelings toward his two years with the Chants.

“Looking back, I enjoyed every bit of it,” he said. “I played with great teammates, I got great exposure to really high competition of play. When you look at it [the Big South is] actually one of the greatest mid-major leagues out there. I didn’t play much, but the times I did play I learned a lot and I learned a lot in practice.

“I played against the best competition in the league day in and day out and I feel that will help me. I really want to thank my teammates and my coaches.”

“We’re wishing him the best,” Ellis said.

Neither move affects the Chants’ rotation as they return starting senior forwards Badou Diagne and Curtis in the frontcourt as well as fellow seniors Marcus Freeman and Michel Enanga, who have been steady options off the bench.

Additionally, the Chants’ incoming recruiting class includes two post players in 6-foot-8 Kevin Holmes and 6-foot-9 Josh Coleman – as well as any late additions Ellis and his staff choose to sign with those two extra open scholarships.

“We’re looking at bigs, trying to see what we can find,” Ellis said. “We’ll take it from there.”

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 9:01 PM with the headline "Ljeskovic, Buffkin transferring from Coastal Carolina basketball program."