CCU men’s basketball team has lost its second-leading scorer, who is seeking a transfer
The NCAA transfer portal has cost Coastal Carolina some key contributors off its football team.
Now the men’s basketball team is being impacted.
Coach Cliff Ellis’ program has suffered another significant loss this year, as junior shooting guard Keishawn Brewton appears to be off the team and has entered the NCAA transfer portal in an attempt to transfer to another school, according to a post on his Instagram page.
“As heartbreaking as it is to make this post, after speaking with my coaches and family, at this time I feel it is best for me to enter the transfer portal and pursue other opportunities,” Brewton’s post states.
The Chants, who are 12-11 overall this season and 5-7 in the Sun Belt Conference, lost talented guard Ebrima Dibba to a serious knee injury in the sixth game of the season.
Brewton said in a Twitter message to The Sun News on Monday that his departure from the team is a “mutual agreement for the most part.” He declined to elaborate further.
Brewton is the Chants’ second-leading scorer at 14.5 points per game, which is second to DeVante Jones’ 16.2 ppg, and is one of the team’s best outside shooters. He leads the team in 3-pointers made with 65 and shoots 37 percent from 3-point range while also averaging more than a steal per game.
The Spartanburg native was added to the program this offseason from Chipola Junior College in Florida. He has started 11 of 22 games played and is averaging the third-most minutes on the team at more than 26 per game.
“I had a good year at Coastal, definitely not how I wanted it to end but I am grateful for the bond I built with my brothers on the team,” Brewton wrote. “I want to thank the coaches for giving me the opportunity in helping me to accomplish my goal to play at the Division I level. I wish the best of luck to the team on the rest of the season. I also want to thank the fans and everyone else for the heartfelt support.”
In January, Brewton was named one of Division I’s top 10 junior college impact transfers by the website Fansided.
He was a big part of Coastal’s promising start to the season, scoring 24 in the season-opener against Campbell and hitting 11 3-pointers combined in the first two games of the Myrtle Beach Invitational against Utah and Baylor in November.
The Chants were 3-2 after 21- and 22-point wins over Middle Tennessee and Utah, and held a six-point lead over now-No. 1 Baylor four minutes into the second half, when Dibba suffered his injury.
Ellis, who was not available for comment Monday, said of Brewton after the Utah win: “I will give Keishawn credit. He has bought in I think to what we’re trying to do. He’s been a guy who has been a prolific scorer wherever he’s been and he’s getting used to our system and he broke out tonight. Hopefully it’ll stay.”
Brewton played in the Chants’ first 22 games, including Thursday’s game at Little Rock, where he started and played 22 minutes but scored just two points on 1-of-5 shooting and had four fouls. He did not play in the second game of the three-day Arkansas road trip on Saturday at Arkansas State, where CCU won 83-77, and announced his intention to transfer on Instagram on Friday.
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 5:27 PM.
