PORTLAND, Ore. – University of Portland men's basketball has signed junior college national champion guard Garrett Nuckolls (Bullard, Texas/Trinity Valley JC) to join the Pilots, head coach Shantay Legans announced Wednesday. Nuckolls was the co-leading scorer for Trinity Valley as the team went 34-3 and claimed the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I title this past season.

Nuckolls (6-6, 195) averaged 10.2 points on a balanced scoring team and added 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists and 1.6 steals per game. He scored a team-high 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting with five rebounds and four assists in the 69-61 championship game win against Connors State. Nuckolls earned all-tournament honors after averaging 12.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists over four games.

As a freshman at Trinity Valley during the 2023-24 season, Nuckolls averaged 4.6 points while shooting an efficient 51 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range.

A standout prep player in Texas, Nuckolls averaged 17.0 points, 4.9 assists, 8.2 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 2.5 steals per game as a senior at Bullard High School and was named the All-Rose Country Boys Basketball Player of the Year. He finished his junior season with averages of 20.4 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 2.8 steals and 1.4 blocks per game. He played his first two years of high school basketball at Lapoynor and helped the team to a co-state title as a freshman averaging 12.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists while making 104 three-pointers. He added 16.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game as a sophomore for the Flyers before transferring to Bullard.

Nuckolls is the sixth announced signee for Coach Legans this spring. He joins Division I transfers Matúš Hronský, James O'Donnell and Riley Parker, as well as freshmen Joel Foxwell, Timo George and Dante Censori-Hercules as the newest members of the Pilots.

Those newcomers will join returning lettermen Mikah Ballew, Kelson Gebbers and Jermaine Ballisager Webb and returning redshirts Carlin Briggs, NaVaughn Long and Preston Lee for the 2025-26 season.
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