Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi a hot commodity in the transfer portal
On Wednesday, the NCAA Transfer Portal received a notification Rutgers center Cliff Omoruyi was leaving New Jersey. The 6-foot-11 senior averaged 10.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game this season for the Scarlet Knights.
“Big Cliff”, as he’s affectionately known, had a decorated season in 2022-23. He became the first player in Rutgers basketball history to be selected Preseason First-Team All-Big Ten in 2022-23. By season’s end, the Benin City, Nigeria prospect was selected to First-Team All-Big Ten Defensive Team and to the Second-Team All-Big Ten.
Omoruyi is a former four-star recruit and was the No. 47 overall player in the nation from the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average which utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
On3’s Joe Tipton reports several programs have already reached out.
Since entering the portal, he tells Tipton UConn, St. John’s, Alabama, Oregon, Southern Cal, Auburn, Villanova, Kansas State, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia Tech, Ole Miss, Miami, LSU, Georgetown, Mississippi State, Oregon State, Loyola Marymount, UCLA, Cal and DePaul have all contacted him.
Omoruyi became the first Rutgers player to lead the team in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots since Keith Hughes did it in 1990-1991. He led the country in dunks heading into the NCAA Tournament last season and was one of the nation’s best dunkers in 2022-23.
Omoruyi finished with 73 dunks this year, good for sixth-most in the country. He racked up double-doubles in 13 of the 34 games played this season as well. Omoruyi was also chosen as a semifinalist for the 2023 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award.
