Pair of Purdue basketball players finalize transfer destinations

Both of the players who transferred off of Purdue’s national runner-up roster have now found new homes in college basketball — in different directions from West Lafayette.

Purdue transfer guard Ethan Morton announced his commitment to Colorado State on Monday, picking the Mountain West school for his final season of college eligibility.

His commitment comes a week after former teammate Mason Gillis also made his transfer commitment to Duke.

Both players have one remaining season of eligibility.

Gillis spent five seasons in West Lafayette; he redshirted as a true freshman in 2019-20. He was Purdue’s best 3-point shooter last season at 46.8 percent as he averaged 6.5 points per game off of the bench. He now will join a remade Duke roster that has seen seven players depart via the transfer portal this offseason.

Morton increased his role over his first three seasons in West Lafayette, from 8.7 minutes per game as a freshman to a starter at 25 minutes per game as a junior in 2022-23. But after Purdue brought in transfer guard Lance Jones, Morton saw his role decrease to 10 minutes per game last season; he scored only 24 total points and played only seven minutes in the NCAA Tournament. He joins a Colorado State program that made the second round of the NCAA Tournament this year.

Purdue has now lost four players off of its Big Ten championship roster: seniors Zach Edey and Jones also departed.