FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Former West Virginia guard Chase Connor signed with Division II Fairmont State on Monday, joining a Falcons team expected to rival West Liberty for the Mountain East title next season.
Connor was a reserve walk-on at WVU after emerging as a two-time state scoring champ at Shady Spring High School. He played in 12 games with the Mountaineers as a freshman and appeared in 23 more last season, finishing with a career average of 1.7 points per game.
Though welcomed back at West Virginia, Connor was not in the coaches’ scholarship plans and wanted to spend his two seasons at a program that afforded him more playing time.
He expects to be a far more prolific 3-point shooter at Fairmont State, where former West Virginia assistant Jerrod Calhoun is entering his fourth season as head coach.
“Chase is exactly the type of player that we have been looking to add to our 2015 recruiting class,” Calhoun said. “He has a great knack for scoring the basketball and will help us with spacing and spreading the floor on offense.”
Fairmont State has made three consecutive appearances in the D-II NCAA tournament, including a 22-11 finish last season. Connor, who had mid-major scholarship offers coming out of high school, will be eligible immediately.
“Being able to get a player as talented as Chase that has played for a hall-of-fame coach like Bob Huggins is something that our staff is very excited about,” said Calhoun. “Playing at West Virginia is also beneficial because of the similarity in our defensive systems.”