Former Michigan forward Tarris Reed Jr. reveals transfer destination
Michigan Wolverines basketball forward Tarris Reed Jr. has landed with a new school, committing to Connecticut Wednesday. Reed joins the Huskies after they won their second-straight national championship with a victory over Purdue last Monday night (April 8).
Reed played two seasons at Michigan and has two years of eligibility remaining.
The Huskies saw projected lottery pick and center Donovan Clingan declare for the 2024 NBA Draft. Forward Samson Johnson, a 6-foot-10, 225-pounder who averaged 5.4 points and 2.8 rebounds in 16 minutes per game last season, is set to return for UConn. He and Reed are expected to share center duties.
The 6-foot-10, 265-pounder played in 32 games with 31 starts for the Maize and Blue, who finished with an 8-24 record in 2023-24. He was fifth on the team averaging 9 points per game, adding a team-high 7.2 rebounds. Reed shot 52.1 percent on two-pointers and was 1-for-3 from beyond the arc.
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He turned the ball over 71 times compared to 19 assists. Reed gave the ball on 30 percent of his post-up possessions when the defense brought a double team, per Synergy. Including passes, he generated just 0.831 points per post-up, ranking in the 36th percentile in the country. Reed made 61.9 percent of his field goal attempts at the rim but struggled with a 25.6-percent clip on his hook shot.
While Michigan ranked 182nd nationally in Kenpom’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric, Reed flashed his skill on defense. He’s a switchable big man that can protect the rim, averaging 1.4 blocks per game last season.
Reed saw time in all 34 contests off the bench as a freshman for Michigan in 2022-23, backing up former All-American Hunter Dickinson. He averaged 3.4 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.6 minutes, shooting 51.7 percent overall (all two-pointers).
Reed discussed his frustration surrounding Michigan’s lack of ‘identity’ on defense after a blowout loss to Illinois at Crisler Center in January.
“It is our first time playing together, but that’s not an excuse,” Reed said. “So we just gotta be calm, knowing what to do in certain situations in certain points in the game, and from there be able to take the game over. “We’ve got a lot of players that can switch the ball one through five, and I feel like we have to take advantage of that more.”
The St. Louis, Mo., native was a four-star recruit in the 2022 class out of Link Year Prep. He was ranked as the No. 35 overall player and seventh-best center in the country, along with the No. 3 prospect in Missouri.
