Tennessee small forward Quentin Diboundje announced that he’s transferring to East Carolina Saturday afternoon.
https://twitter.com/qdiboundje/status/1512904969137053698?s=20&t=BvFd0ZImB–H9vhdgS9W9w
In his end of the year press conference Thursday, Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said Diboundje transferring to ECU was a strong possibility.
“Quentin wants to play,” Barnes said. “With that said, we’ve had some talks about it with him. There is a possibility that he’s going to leave. Which I think if he does I think he’ll end up going to East Carolina with coach Schwartz. Because coach is going to hire a great friend of ours from France that really helped us recruit Yves (Pons), Quentin and some other guys. We all really respect Quentin a great deal, but he looks at our roster right now and he feels like for him to grow, but I think that’s what’s going to happen to be quite honest with you. It hasn’t become official but it’s going to happen.”
Mike Schwartz was an assistant at Tennessee — and Diboundje’s lead recruiter — for six seasons before landing the East Carolina head coach job last month.
Diboundje signed with Tennessee last April after a prep season at Montverde Academy in Florida. The France native played in five games for Tennessee as a freshman scoring 12 points and grabbing eight rebounds.
The freshman’s departure now gives Tennessee three open scholarships in this cycle. B.J. Edwards is Tennessee’s only signee in the 2023 recruiting class. Four 2022 Vols have left since the season ended with Kennedy Chandler declaring for the NBA Draft and Diboundje, Handje Tamba and Victor Bailey Jr. all transferring.
