4/7/2021 basketball Edit

East Carolina transfer Jayden Gardner nearing a decision

Justin H. Williams • TheWolfpackCentral

Staff Writer

East Carolina transfer forward Jayden Gardner has narrowed down a shortlist of landing spots and is nearing a decision.

Garder, a junior who has two seasons of college eligibility remaining, announced Tuesday that NC State, Virginia, Miami, Arkansas and LSU are the schools he will be choosing from.

The 6-7, 235-pounder from Wake Forest, N.C., will reportedly conduct a final virtual meeting with NC State head coach Kevin Keatts and his staff Wednesday according to Jake Weingarten of StockRisers.com.

Gardner will also have a virtual meeting with Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman and the Razorbacks staff Wednesday, followed by final conversations with Virginia, Miami and LSU Thursday.

"A decision is coming very, very soon," Weingarten added Wednesday morning.

East Carolina Pirates Basketball Jayden Gardner — East Carolina junior forward Jayden Gardner's 18.3 points per game in 2020-21 ranked second in the American Athletic Conference. (James Guillory, USA Today Sports)

A devastating blow to East Carolina's rebuild efforts could end up being a blessing for a Power Five program like NC State.

Gardner was a three-year starter for the Pirates and finished second in the American Athletic Conference in scoring average last season after leading the league in 2019-20.

The 6-7, 235-pounder earned first-team All-AAC honors in 2020-21 a year after HoopsHD.com named him the conference's Player of the Year in 2019-20. The Athletic also named him the North Carolina Player of the Year in 2019-20.

Gardner has a career average of 18 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Most recently, he averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest during his junior campaign. He also reeled in a season-high 15 rebounds in East Carolina's upset win over then-ranked No. 5 Houston, a Final Four team that is arguably the nation's best rebounding squad.

He shot 50.1 percent from the field over three years in Greenville and has a career free-throw shooting percentage of .741.

The former Pirate has an elite ability to get to the free-throw line. Gardner averaged six fouls drawn per 40 minutes in 2020-21 according to KenPom.com. That average ranked No. 48 nationally and would have led the ACC. Ironically, NC State fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk, who held the role Gardner would likely fill if he picked the Pack, led the league, averaging 5.6 fouls drawn per 40 minutes.