Derrick Gordon to transfer to Seton Hall, eligible immediately

Derrick Gordon, previously point guard at UMass, has announced he will use fifth year of eligibility at Seton Hall. The New Jersey native is eligible immediately. (Photo courtesy of ESPN)

In an offseason where Seton Hall made headlines for less than desirable reasons, the Pirates are once again in the news, but this time to announce a new arrival to the program.

Derrick Gordon, who spent the last two seasons at the University of Massachusetts, has agreed to transfer to Seton Hall, where he will use his fifth and final year of eligibility. As a graduate student who has already earned his degree, Gordon will be able to suit up immediately, a huge boost for a team that went down a point guard after Sterling Gibbs announced he would spend his final year elsewhere.

"I looked at this as kind of a 'win-win' situation for me," Gordon said earlier this evening, when he was a guest on WSOU's "Pirate Primetime." "I'll be able to go there and play to my full potential that I know I can. I couldn't be happier."

Last season, Gordon averaged nearly ten points, five rebounds and three assists for UMass, who went 17-15 one year removed from competing in the NCAA Tournament. The New Jersey native, who made headlines last offseason for coming out as Division I college basketball's first-ever openly gay player, comes to South Orange in the wake of Rev. Warren Hall being dismissed for showing his support of equality in a Facebook post, but insisted the move to Seton Hall was in no way influenced by his sexuality.

"As long as I'm accepted, that's all that really matters to me," said Gordon. "We're all in a society now where there are people who accept it and people who don't accept it. Regardless of where I go, it's always going to be like that."

Gordon is the second graduate transfer Seton Hall has brought in, joining forward Braeden Anderson, who arrives by way of Fresno State.