The national freshman of the year at Maryland and an All-Pac-12 selection the past two seasons at Oregon State, Destiny Slocum will play her final season of college basketball at Arkansas.
Arguably the most highly sought player to enter her name in the transfer portal since the end of the season, Slocum announced her decision in a Twitter post Saturday.
— Destiny Slocum (@DestinySlocum24) April 18, 2020
The 5-foot-7 fifth-year guard will be eligible for the 2020-21 season as a graduate transfer.
Slocum's decision brings a well-traveled college career something close to full circle. As a high schooler, the Meridian, Idaho, product verbally committed to the University of Washington before reopening her recruiting and settling on Maryland. Now after an additional stop at Oregon State, she will finally play for Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors, who held the same role at Washington when Slocum was a high school recruit.
Arkansas did not immediately confirm Slocum's decision. But in a tweet timestamped six minutes after Slocum's announcement, Neighbors posted a GIF of himself pumping his fist.
Slocum led Oregon State in scoring and assists in each of her two seasons on the court. This past season she averaged 14.9 points and 4.7 assists and was the Pac-12's fifth-most prolific 3-point shooter. Oregon State was ranked No. 14 in the country when the NCAA tournament was canceled.
Slocum was an all-conference selection and earned WBCA All-America honorable mention both seasons at Oregon State. As a freshman at Maryland during the 2016-17 season, she was the WBCA Freshman of the Year and a second-team all-Big Ten honoree.
She did not offer a reason for her decision to leave Oregon State when she entered the transfer portal last month. After leaving Maryland for Oregon State, she told ESPN that she rushed into picking a college and was too fixated on the WNBA and "how do I get there the fastest."
In this case, she chose the transfer portal and ultimately Arkansas over entering Friday's WNBA draft.
Her decision is a major boost for an Arkansas program that has improved steadily in three seasons under Neighbors and will return leading scorer and second-team all-SEC selection Chelsea Dungee. The Razorbacks finished with a 24-8 record this past season, including 10-6 in the SEC -- the program's first winning record in conference play since the 2011-12 season.
The addition of Slocum should help offset the loss of senior Alexis Tolefree, who was second on the team in scoring. The Razorbacks also didn't have a player record more than 100 assists -- and assists leader A'Tyanna Gaulden entered the transfer portal last month. Slocum totaled at least 150 assists in each of her first three years.