Rutgers Women's Basketball G Kaylene Smikle enters the transfer portal
The first domino of the Rutgers women's basketball team's offseason has fallen, as guard Kaylene Smikle will enter the transfer portal after two seasons as a Scarlet Knight, according to reports. She will have two years of eligibility remaining.
Smikle was a star early on in her career and carried the Scarlet Knights on both ends of the floor at times, especially during her freshman season. That season, she earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors and was named to the conference's All-Freshman team, finishing as a runner-up for the Freshman of the Year award behind Ohio State's Cotie McMahon.
Smikle, a native of Farmingdale, New York, and graduate of Westtown High School in Pennsylvania, finishes her Rutgers career averaging 17.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 2 steals per game.
She stepped up her production in Big Ten play her freshman season, averaging 19.5 PPG against conference opponents while being named Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times.
Her freshman campaign closed in record-setting fashion, setting a program freshman record with 573 points scored during one of her best performances in a Big Ten tournament win over Northwestern.
Midway through the year, Smikle was headed for another star campaign before missing the final 17 games with what the coaching staff described as a medical issue. She paced the team in scoring with 16.1 PPG while also averaging 5.1 RPG and 1.8 SPG. She set a career high with 33 points in a November win over Delaware State and scored 20 or more points in five games this season.
She leaves Rutgers after one and a half star-studded seasons and leaves a sizable void in the Scarlet Knights' guard room as a shot-creating sharpshooter and defensive centerpiece on a young team.
Her production through her first two seasons means she will have plenty of suitors in the portal, and it remains to be seen what Rutgers will do to replace her her contributions to the Scarlet Knights.
Stay tuned here at The Knight Report for any other Rutgers women’s hoops offseason news.
--------------------------------------------------------------
• Subscribe to our YouTube Channel
• Talk about it inside The Round Table Message Board
• Talk about it on the Rutgers Women's Hoops Free Message Board