Derek Simpson has found a new home.
The Rutgers basketball transfer has committed to St. Joseph’s, he announced Tuesday. The guard has two more years of eligibility remaining.
Simpson is the second Scarlet Knight transfer to find a landing spot this offseason, following Antonio Chol (Howard).
RUTGERS BASKETBALL OFFSEASON/TRANSFER PORTAL TRACKER
A three-star recruit out of Lenape in South Jersey, Simpson had an up-and-down career in his two seasons in Piscataway. In 66 career appearances (31 starts), he averaged 7.7 points on 33.7% shooting (36.5% on twos, 25.2% on threes, 83.5% on free throws), 2.2 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 23 minutes per game.
Simpson showed flashes of potential off the bench in his freshman season, from a big second half in a home win over a ranked Indiana team to orchestrating a huge comeback on the road against Penn State and leading a Big Ten Tournament win over Michigan. He was expected to play a similar sixth-man role as a sophomore until the unexpected offseason departures of key veteran guards Paul Mulcahy and Cam Spencer thrust him into a starting position.
Simpson struggled in the elevated role, averaging 8.3 points on 30.5% shooting (31.3% on twos, 28.2% on threes, 86.4% on free throws), 3.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.5 turnovers, and 1.4 steals in 26.1 minutes across 32 appearances (25 starts). He finished the year with the worst effective field goal percentage (34%) of the 242 high-major players with a usage rate of 20% or higher.
Now, Simpson is headed to the Atlantic 10 and Philadelphia, where he will look to improve his game near his hometown of Mount Laurel.
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Brian Fonseca may be reached at bfonseca@njadvancemedia.com.
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