Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Goings, comings for AU hoops

A day after freshman center Boubacar Sylla transferred from Auburn's men's basketball team, Oklahoma freshman guard Tony Neysmith transferred in.

This from Auburn, with more to come in Wednesday's Star:

Auburn Basketball Signs Oklahoma Transfer Tony Neysmith

AUBURN -- Tony Neysmith, a 6-foot-5, 203-pound guard who played last year as a freshman at the University of Oklahoma, has signed a financial aid agreement with Auburn basketball, head coach Jeff Lebo announced Tuesday.

"We are very excited about Tony joining our program," Lebo said. "He is used to winning and has played for winning programs, and I know he is excited to be at Auburn and to be closer to home."

The Norcross, Ga., native played in 22 games for the Sooners, starting four, and averaged 0.5 points, 0.6 rebounds while shooting 40 percent from the field as Oklahoma went 23-12 (9-7 Big 12) and reached the NCAA Tournament second round.

The Sooners went 3-1 in the four consecutive games he started from Feb. 13-23 vs. Iowa State, at Texas Tech, at Baylor and at Texas. Neysmith scored four points and had two rebounds in eight minutes in his first career start vs. Iowa State. He scored two points each at Texas Tech and Alcorn State and had two points, two steals, an assist and a rebound in 14 minutes vs. Mount St. Mary's.

He played double-figure minutes five times.

He was ranked as the nation's No. 100 high school recruit in 2007 by Rivals.com as he was an honorable mention all-state selection as a senior at Norcross (Ga.) High School. He led Norcross to the Class 5A state title in 2007 and a No. 12 final USA Today national ranking by averaging 10.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

He started every game as a junior when he averaged 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.8 steals in helping the team to a 28-4 record.

Neysmith was high school teammates with Kentucky's Jodie Meeks, Georgia Tech's Gani Lawal, Florida State's Jordan DeMercy and Fordham's Brenton Butler.

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