The NCAA transfer portal officially opened on Monday, marking the beginning of the offseason roster changes as hundreds of players from over 300 Division I teams, who had completed their seasons, sought new opportunities. Arizona’s season wrapped up on Thursday night, and it wasn’t long before the first player left the roster.
Sophomore guard is entering the portal, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello, starting the roster shakeup for the Wildcats.
Standing at 6-foot-4, Lewis played 73 games for Arizona over two seasons, starting the first six games of the 2024-25 season before moving to a bench role. He averaged 10.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 1.3 steals as a sophomore, all of which were improvements from his freshman year. He scored 21 points twice, including in the 113-100 victory over ASU on March 4.
However, his shooting performance saw a significant decline, as he hit only 42.9 percent of his field goals (down from 46.6 percent in 2023-24) and just 18.8 percent from three-point range, compared to 34.1 percent as a freshman. In Arizona’s Sweet 16 loss to Duke, he scored six points on 3-of-9 shooting after averaging 13.4 points in the previous five games.
A 4-star recruit from Texas who grew up in Tucson, Lewis chose Arizona over offers from schools like Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, Memphis, Texas Tech, and UCLA.
Lewis is the latest player recruited by Tommy Lloyd and his staff to leave Arizona after two or fewer seasons. Last year, Arizona saw Kylan Boswell, Filip Borovicanin, Paulius Murauskas, and Dylan Anderson depart through the portal, along with Oumar Ballo, while Adama Bal left the program the previous year after two seasons.
The Wildcats are also losing guard Caleb Love and forward Trey Townsend to graduation, leaving them with just eight scholarship players from the 2024-25 team. With a roster cap coming into effect next season, Arizona is allowed to have up to 15 players on scholarship.
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