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Former Syracuse center Frank Anselem will transfer to Georgia, he announced on Saturday. After two seasons at Syracuse, Anselem entered the transfer portal on March 31 and posted publicly about visits to Georgetown and Georgia. 

Anselem started six games during the 2021-22 season after top center Jesse Edwards suffered a season-ending wrist injury, and Anselem averaged 2.6 points and 3.8 rebounds per game across SU’s 33-game season. He logged at least 10 rebounds three times — with 15 boards in two of those games, against Virginia Tech and Florida State — while scoring a career-high nine points against the Seminoles in the Orange’s first game of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

Now, Anselem joins a Georgia team that suffered through the worst season in program history last year at 6-26, fired head coach Tom Crean, replaced him with former Florida head coach Mike White and then watched as nine players from last year’s team entered the transfer portal. The Bulldogs won just once in Southeastern Conference play, upsetting Alabama by six points on Jan. 25. Outside of that, they failed to log a win after Dec. 20, 2021.

Georgia’s tallest starter last season was Braelen Bridges at 6-foot-11. The former Illinois-Chicago transfer started every game, averaging 12.9 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He announced on April 18 that he’d return for a final season, and leading scorer Kario Oquendo also intends to return.

Anselem, who had a taste of a starting role last year following Edwards’ injury, will have a chance to earn a full-time role at his new school. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said throughout the season, including once after the Duke loss on Feb. 26, that Anselem “isn’t ready” for the role he inherited despite the flashes of improvement during the 15-rebound games. In his announcement about entering the transfer portal, Anselem had said that “things have to end for something to start anew.”

I will be committing to the University of Georgia. #GoDawgs Let’s work!! pic.twitter.com/ms86WqGm1C

— Frank (@the2kfranky) April 30, 2022

Syracuse, meanwhile, hasn’t found an option to replace Anselem yet. It hosted 7-foot-1 center Quincy Ballard, a Syracuse native who’d originally committed to Florida State over the Orange back in high school, but he instead committed to Wichita State. 

The Orange return Edwards, Benny Williams and John Bol Ajak at the forward and center positions, and SU also will add a six-person recruiting class ranked No. 18 nationally — featuring four-stars Judah Mintz, Chris Bunch and Justin Taylor, as well as three-stars Quadir Copeland, Maliq Brown and Peter Carey.

Published on April 30, 2022 at 4:13 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew