Mocs Basketball Inks Two
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball team added Jahmal Burroughs to its 2010-11 roster head coach John Shulman announced on Friday. Burroughs began his collegiate career at New Orleans before playing last season at Neosho County Community College.
Burroughs will compete for playing time in the post for the Mocs at the four. Listed at 6-6, 210, he is a high energy performer with good strength and athleticism to go along with solid Division I experience.
“We feel very fortunate to get someone of Jahmal’s ability this late in the recruiting process,” said Shulman. “He started out of position at New Orleans (5) before transferring to Neosho because of the uncertainty at UNO (now moving to DIII).
“He’s a winner,” added Shulman. “He played key minutes at UNO as a freshman in the Sun Belt Conference. Jahmal understands the grind of DI basketball.”
Burroughs averaged 10.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per games for the Panthers helping lead NCCC to a 20-11 record, 12-6 in the ultra-competitive Jayhawk East Conference. He played last season for Jeremy Coombs who completed his third season on the Neosho County bench.
Jahmal played his freshman season at his hometown school, the University of New Orleans. In a reserve role to open the season, he played in 20 games averaging 3.6 points and 2.6 rebounds per game. Playing time was limited early but increased steadily throughout the season as he started eight of the Privateers’ final nine regular season games.
His season high at UNO was an 11-point effort at UL Lafayette (2/22/09). He was a 4A All-State Honorable Mention performer at McDonogh 35 High School in New Orleans also garnering all-district and all-metro honors as a three-year letterwinner for the Roneagles. He played on the New Orleans Panther Select AAU team
with 2010 NBA Draft First Round lottery selection Greg Monroe (Detroit Pistons).
Burroughs will have two seasons of eligibility remaining. He joins current Mocs wing Troy Cage (Baton Rouge, La.) as natives of Louisiana on the Chattanooga roster. He takes the roster spot of signee B.J. Frazier who decided not to continue his basketball career.
“B.J. let us know that he did not want to continue playing collegiate basketball at this time,” noted Shulman. “As a coach, you are always recruiting and we were prepared for this as we had recruited Jahmal during the Spring.
“Coach Coombs had Kevin Goffney who we obviously really liked and when Jahmal became available, it was a perfect fit."
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The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s basketball program added point guard Martynas Bareika (Kedainiai, Lithuania) head coach John Shulman announced on Sunday. Bareika can play either wing, but projects as a great addition at the point entering school as a freshman.
“Martynas is a very mature young man,” said Shulman. “He did a tour of the U.S., visiting schools by himself and was very impressive. He brings good length at the one. Martynas is going to give us great depth at the point with Keegan (Bell), and can play the wing as well.
“He brings great experience playing high-level basketball. He plays hard and is very aggressive. A great student, he wants to get a great education and play college basketball.”
Bareika played last year for Triobet-Malsta in Lithuania. Prior to that, he led Kedainiai Sports School to the junior league final four finishing third in 2008-09 and was named the team’s most valuable player.
Martynas chose Chattanooga over Mississippi State, Rhode Island and Detroit. He visited all four schools in May, prior to making his decision. He is the second international player to join the Mocs in 2010 as native Serbian Drazen Zlovaric (zlow-VAH-rich) transferred from the University Georgia in April.
Born in Kedainiai, he is the son of Rytis and Jolanta Bareika. He has one brother, Laurynas, and plans to concentrate his studies in multimedia and graphic design.
He joins center Philip Jurick (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and forwards Zlovaric and Jahmal Burroughs (New Orleans, La.) as incoming class for 2010-11. Jurick (Chattanooga State Community College) and Burroughs (Neosho County Community College) will have three and two years remaining, respectively. Zlovaric will sit out the 2010-11 season due to NCAA transfer rules and have two seasons of eligibilty.
