Utah basketball picks up a pair of transfers – one you may know

Like sands in the hourglass, these are the dog days of summer, and the transfer portal continues to spin. Holy cow, how the transfer portal has changed college sports, and I’m not sure if it’s going to slow down anytime soon. Almost the entire 2021-22 basketball roster will be transfers, at least a sizeable portion anyways. The Utes welcomed in two transfers this week with the transfer of Illinois State big man Dusan Mahorcic.

The Utes were in line with Clemson and Texas for the big guy, and the 6-foot-10 and 230-pound big fella will help bolster the depth for the Utes on the front line. He averaged 9.9 points and 7.2 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game last season as a junior.

Joining Mahorcic is a familiar name to come BACK to Utah. Can you believe it? People can transfer back after leaving for a year. Both Gach is back in Utah after a season at Minnesota. Minnesota fired their coach, and a mass exodus hit that program, leading Gach back to Utah. Coach Slocum is reported to be the big name to get Both back to SLC. Goch started 25 games and averaged 10.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists his last season at Utah. Last season at Minnesota, Gach averaged 6.8 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.9 assists in 29 games. Gach may be the front runner for a point guard with the losses of Rylan Jones and Pelle Larrson to the transfer portal. Gach is a very talented and athletic guard, he was just inconsistent his first trip in SLC, but he really unlocked a unique skill set when he was productive for the Utes.

We’ll continue to see how Craig Smith retools and rebuilds this program, but it’s nice to see the staff hitting the recruiting trail and transfer portal hard.