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Thomasson signs with Bulldogs

Noah Thomasson
Photo: John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

ATHENS, Ga. — Noah Thomasson, the leading scorer in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) at Niagara last season, will join the Georgia Bulldogs as a graduate transfer for the 2023-24 season, head coach Mike White announced on Wednesday.

Thomasson, a 6-3, 195-pound guard, averaged 19.5 points per game for the Purple Eagles last season, pacing all MAAC scorers and finishing No. 34 nationally. He earned first-team All-MAAC honors after ranking among the league’s top-10 in six statistics. In addition to being No. 1 in scoring, Thomasson was No. 2 in playing time (36.4 mpg), No. 7 in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.38), No. 7 in 3-point percentage (.386), No. 8 in assists (3.5 apg) and No. 10 in field goal percentage (.481).

Thomasson played two seasons at Niagara, starting 60 of 61 games played compiling 929 points (15.2 ppg), 203 rebounds (3.3 rpg) and 211 assists (3.5 apg). He averaged 10.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting 45.4 percent from the field and 36.1 percent from 3-point range. during the 2021-22 season.

Prior to Niagara, Thomasson played at Butler (Kansas) Community College in 2020-21 and averaged 15.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists en route to earning second-team All-KJCCC (Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference) accolades. As a freshman at Houston Baptist in 2019-20, Thomasson averaged 4.0 points in 24 games, including a season-high 17 against Northwestern State.

Thomasson is a native of Houston, Texas, and as a senior averaged 19.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.5 steals while leading George Ranch High School to the IUL Regional finals and state playoffs. He was named District 23-6A Most Valuable Player and first-team all-state that season.

Thomasson is the eighth newcomer to ink papers to join the Bulldogs for the next season. He joins three additional transfers and four prep prospects. The first seven signees comprised the nation’s No. 19 overall recruiting class according to 247Sports.com. That ranking is expected to improve with the addition of Thomasson.

In addition to Thomasson, Georgia has announced three more transfers – Jalen DeLoach, an All-Atlantic 10 performer at VCU in 2022-23 who is originally from Savannah, Ga.; RJ Melendez, ESPN.com’s No. 56 recruit in the Class of 2021 who played at Illinois the last two seasons; and Russel Tchewa (pronounced chee-wuh), the second-leading rebounder in the American Athletic Conference and second-leading scorer for South Florida last season.

The four high school signees are all ranked among the top-100 prospects in the Class of 2023. Last November, the Bulldogs inked two ESPN.com top-100 prospects – No. 83 Mari Jordan, a small forward from Norcross High School, and No. 90 Dylan James, a power forward from Winter Haven (Fla.) High School. This spring, Georgia added Blue Cain, a shooting guard from Knoxville, Tenn., and the IMG Academy ranked No. 52 by ESPN.com, and Silas Demary Jr., a guard from Raleigh, N.C. ranked as high as No. 41 nationally by On3.com.

Georgia’s incoming freshman class is ranked No. 13 by 247sports.com, No. 14 by rivals.com and No. 16 by On3.com. The quartet is rated as the second-best recruiting class in the SEC according to both 247 and rivals.

During White’s first season with Georgia in 2022-23, the Bulldogs improved their win total by 10 victories over the 2021-22 campaign. Georgia’s double-digit victory margin was the second-biggest regular-season improvement by any Power 5 program.

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