Virginia Basketball Freshman Wing Jabri Abdur-Rahim Opts To Transfer

After seeing limited playing time as a true freshman, highly touted wing Jabri Abdur-Rahim is transferring from the University of Virginia.

(ESPN College Basketball Insider Jeff Borzello reported the news via the tweet above. Abdur-Rahim subsequently retweeted the report.)

Abdur-Rahim was among the most highly rated prospects to commit to Virginia in the Tony Bennett era, receiving 4-star accolades from 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN. All three sites rated the 6’7”, 205-pound prospect among the top 45 prospects in his class, with ESPN rating him as the no. 38 overall recruit in the class of 2020. UVA’s class of 2020 was the second-most highly rated in the Bennett era behind the 2016 group, which including Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, De’Andre Hunter and Jay Huff.

Abdur-Rahim was sidelined for the majority of his senior season at Blair Academy (Blairstown, N.J.) with a foot injury. While he did take the court in his first year in Charlottesville, he played in only eight games in total. He reached double-digit minutes one time, playing 11 minutes when UVA defeated St. Francis (PA) in the third game of the season. He totaled seven points on 2-of-10 shooting in his seven appearances, making 1-of-7 from 3 and 2-2 from the free throw line.

Jabri Abdur-Rahim, pictured here at the 2019 NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, has decided to transfer from Virginia after his freshman season.

During UVA’s recruitment, Abdur-Rahim noted that Coach Bennett saw him as a potential De’Andre Hunter-type who could guard multiple positions on defense and score in multiple ways on offense.

“They’ve just been telling me I can come in and be an elite defender, and that’s what [Tony Bennett] sees me, kind of filling in a De’Andre Hunter type role, so I really like what he’s saying,” Abdur-Rahim said at the 2019 NBPA Top 100 Camp at John Paul Jones Arena.

“I think they like his defensive versatility and that he can guard multiple positions,” Blair Academy head coach Joe Mantegna said. “He can score on all three levels. Virginia likes to take the shot-clock down, so they like guys who can get their own shot. Kyle Guy could do that to a degree. Jabri has the skill and the length to get a shot and to make a contested shot over a player.”

Abdur-Rahim becomes the second Virginia player to transfer out of the program since the 2020-21 season concluded. The first was sophomore guard Casey Morsell, who was also a consensus 4-star recruit coming out of high school. In addition, redshirt senior forward and 2021 All ACC First-Team performer Sam Hauser announced he would not return, turning down an extra year of eligibility offered by the NCAA because of the pandemic. Coach Bennett said on his radio show last week that he does not expect any of the three seniors – Hauser, Huff and Tomas Woldetensae – to return next season.

Assuming none of the three seniors return, Virginia basketball’s roster projection for the 2021-22 season now includes 9 scholarship players. The Hoos have four available scholarships to use for the upcoming campaign.

Point Guards: Kihei Clark (Sr), Reece Beekman (Soph)

Wings: Trey Murphy III (Sr), Kody Stattmann (Jr), Carson McCorkle (Soph), Taine Murray (Fr)

Combo Forwards: Justin McKoy (Jr)

Posts: Francisco Caffaro (R-Jr), Kadin Shedrick (R-Soph)