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Former New Mexico guard Cleveland Thomas transfers to Hartford

Cleveland Thomas

New Mexico guard Cleveland Thomas splits the San Diego State defense while scoring during the second half of a NCAA college basketball game Saturday, March 8, 2014, in San Diego. New Mexico built a 14 point lead only to lose 51-48 and San Diego State captured the Mountain West Conference regular season championship. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

AP

After averaging just over 15 minutes per game as a sophomore at New Mexico, 6-foot-3 guard Cleveland “Pancake” Thomas made the decision to leave Craig Neal’s program last week. Even with the departures of Cameron Bairstow, Alex Kirk and Kendall Williams, the Baton Rouge, La. product felt he needed to leave in order to reach his full potential as a basketball player.

According to a report from Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, Thomas has found that place as he will be transferring to Hartford. Shortly thereafter, Thomas confirmed the news via his Twitter account.

Thomas is the second reported transfer to join the Hartford program this offseason, with former Eastern Michigan guard Jalen Ross being the other. Thomas started ten of the 34 games in which he played for New Mexico this past season, averaging 3.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

Thomas reached double figures in five games last season, scoring a season-high 12 points in a tight win at Wyoming on January 8. He’ll have two seasons of eligibility at Hartford after sitting out the 2014-15 campaign per NCAA rules. Hartford has three guards who will have exhausted their eligibility when Thomas becomes eligible, with point guard Yolonzo Moore and shooting guards Wes Cole and Corban Wroe all being rising seniors.

Of the three Moore was the most productive last season, as he averaged 9.8 points and 2.8 assists per game. Hartford’s biggest personnel loss from last season is forward Oren Faulk, who made 17 starts but averaged just 3.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

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