The entire starting five from the best University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff men’s basketball team of Solomon Bozeman’s tenure will need to be replaced.
Starting guards Alex Mirhosseini, Trevon Payton and Milhan Charles each announced their intentions to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal this past week.
The trio, who each started 30 or more games this season, depart as the other two starters, guard Quion Williams and forward Jaquan Scott, exhausted their eligibility. No other player outside those five started more than twice, and none started a conference game.
Mirhosseini was the team’s third-leading scorer behind Williams and Scott and led the Golden Lions in three-point shooting, making 79 of his 238 attempts. His 2.5 makes per game were the second-most of any SWAC player.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Payton had the best three-point percentage on the team, making 66 of 140. He averaged 10 points per game and played the second-most minutes of any Golden Lion, 33.8 per game. Charles, a freshman from France, averaged 10.5 points per game and had the best shooting percentage of the starting lineup, .542.
With Williams and Scott also departing, UAPB will not return a player who averaged more than 6.8 points or 21.2 minutes per game. All five players were newcomers this season as UAPB has had to replace most of its roster during most offseasons since the introduction of the transfer portal.
The Golden Lions are coming off a 13-19 season in which they went 10-8 in SWAC play and entered the SWAC tournament as the No. 6-seed. It was UAPB’s first time finishing better than .500 in SWAC play since going 10-8 in 2019 under George Ivory.