Former Duke men’s basketball forward makes choice out of the transfer portal
Nikolas Khamenia will play his sophomore season of college basketball for the Connecticut Huskies, the team that ended his freshman season at Duke.
Khamenia announced Saturday on his Instagram page that he would transfer to UConn.
The forward was one of the two Blue Devils to enter the NCAA transfer portal after the season, following guard Darren Harris, who has committed to Indiana.
Khamenia, a five-star recruit out of California, proved to be a versatile 6-8 forward as a freshman for the Devils. He averaged 5.7 points and 3.3 rebounds in 38 games, and Duke coach Jon Scheyer said he was one of the most competitive players on the team.
Khamenia’s role increased as the season went along, and in the postseason, and he proved to be a good frontcourt complement for Cameron Boozer, Pat Ngongba and Maliq Brown for the Devils. He started five games and averaged 19.8 minutes a game for the season, shooting 34% from 3-point range.
Khamenia had a season high of 14 points over Louisville and Syracuse in the regular season and again against Clemson in Duke’s ACC Tournament run to the title. He had a season-best nine rebounds in the road win against Michigan State and matched it against Michigan.
Khamenia had seven points in the NCAA regional final against UConn, which took a 73-72 victory on Braylon Mullins’ last-second 3-pointer.
