It was reported first by Verbal Commits on Friday afternoon that wing Oskar Palmquist has entered the transfer portal. He is the second player to do so this week, joining guard Jalen Miller.
After seeing limited action most of his career, Palmquist had a breakout game on February 1 against Minnesota. He scored a career high 13 points on 3 of 4 shooting from three along with 2 rebounds and 2 assists.
With starter Mawot Mag lost for the season due to injury the following game, Palmquist became a regular in the rotation coming off the bench. He made 3 of 4 behind the arc at Indiana, hit a big three in a 1 point win at Wisconsin, made two timely second half threes in the 19 point comeback win at Penn State and gave RU 18 quality minutes in the Big Ten Tournament win over Michigan.
In 48 career games, Palmquist averaged 1.7 points on 35.6% shooting from three-point range.
Earlier this week when discussing the roster moving forward, head coach Steve Pikiell said “Oskar has opportunities to go home (Sweden) and do some things. Also opportunities to look into for himself. You want them to explore those opportunities.”
Palmquist was a quality teammate and three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection. It was great to see him earn a role this season after playing sparingly up to that point of his career. Best of luck to him and his future.
With Palmquist and Miller in the transfer portal, there is one roster spot now open for the 2023-2024 season. However, it’s possible that more spots become available if additional players decide to enter the portal.
Cliff Omoruyi also declared for the NBA Draft on Thursday. However, he will maintain his college eligibility and Rutgers will keep his roster spot on hold if does want to ultimately return. The date for early entrants to withdraw from the draft pool is June 12.
The offseason is just getting started and it’s fair to expect that the Rutgers roster will be a fluid situation in the coming weeks.
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InPikeWeTrust
March 24, 2023 at 11:32 pm
Really thought Oskar proved his worth and had carved out a role on this team moving forward. Seemed like a great teammate and program kid. Wish him nothing but the best! This is setting up to be a very crazy off-season, perhaps.
thevinman
March 25, 2023 at 4:26 pm
I thought Oskar could provide us with some offensive punch coming off the bench next seasons. Having said that, I understand why he would look to transfer to get a chance to start someplace in his final year of eligibility. Best of luck to him.
RUONE
March 25, 2023 at 11:35 am
Not a big loss – given the portal is a wide open just need to find an effective player.
BataliBoli98
March 25, 2023 at 1:46 pm
While I am glad that he had a few moments for RU down the stretch, the numbers don’t lie. I get it, RU needs shooters, but if the program isn’t at the point where Pikiell can’t find a transfer who can score more than 1.7 a game while also shooting 35% or better from deep than we are not as far along as I thought.