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Jamal Mashburn Jr. leaves New Mexico, enters transfer portal

New Mexico guard Jamal Mashburn Jr., son of the former NBA All-Star and Kentucky great, entered the transfer portal Monday.

Mashburn's season ended Friday with a 77-56 loss to Clemson in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

A two-time All-Mountain West selection, Mashburn averaged 14.1 points this season as New Mexico won the Mountain West Conference tournament and received an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. His scoring numbers were down from the previous two seasons, when he earned first-team All-Mountain West honors in 2023 and third-team honors in 2022.

Mashburn averaged 18.2 points as a sophomore and 19.1 last season, leading the Mountain West in scoring at 21.0 points in league play and shooting a career-high 38.2% from 3-point range.

He started his career under Richard Pitino at Minnesota before following him to New Mexico. He put up 8.2 points as a freshman for the Golden Gophers.

Mashburn's father played under Rick Pitino at Kentucky in the early 1990s, winning SEC Player of the Year in 1993 and leading the Wildcats to the Final Four the same year. He was selected with the fourth pick in the 1993 NBA draft and was an NBA All-Star in 2003.