Less than three months after it was announced by the UTEP program that he signed a National Letter of Intent to play for Tim Floyd, 6-foot-5 shooting guard Marqywell Jackson made the decision to leave El Paso with homesickness cited as the reason why.
“Marqywell came in and tried it and felt it was a little too far from home,” Floyd told Bill Knight of the El Paso Times last week. “That’s one of the things the summer is for. We will release him (from his scholarship) to the school of his choice and we wish him well.”
According to multiple reports Thursday the Detroit native has found a new home, with Jackson making the decision to join Jim Ferry at Duquesne. As a senior at East Village Prep last season, Jackson scored 24 points per game according to the UTEP release announcing his signing back in April.
Jackson is the fifth newcomer to join the Duquesne program, joining Butler transfer Rene Castro, junior college transfer Jordan Stevens and fellow freshmen Eric James and TySean Powell. Duquesne finished the 2013-14 season with a 13-17 record, going 5-11 in Atlantic 10 play. Point guard Micah Mason (10.6 ppg, 3.0 apg, 2.8 rpg) returns for his sophomore season, but the Dukes will have to account for the loss of leading scorer and rebounder Ovie Soko.
Soko, who played his first three seasons of college basketball at UAB, averaged 18.4 points and 8.0 rebounds per game last season. Senior Dominique McKoy’s return will help Duquesne as he scored 9.7 points and grabbed 7.4 caroms per night, and he along with guard Derrick Colter (9.1 ppg, 3.4 apg) are two of the returnees who will be asked to do more with Soko out of eligibility.