MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama men's basketball head coach Matthew Graves has announced R.J. Kelly will be transferring into the program this summer.

Kelly, a 6-foot-7 forward who played his freshman season at Savannah State, will have to sit out the 2017-18 season but has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

"We are extremely excited to add R.J. Kelly to next season's roster," Graves said. "He will bring a lot of versatility to our front court and he is a very good offensive rebounder. His motor is tremendous and the thing I like most about him, is he has a lot of untapped potential and his upside is through the roof."

In his only season at Savannah State, Kelly averaged 9.7 points and a team-best 6.0 rebounds. He also paced the Tigers by shooting 61.3 percent from the floor and converted 41.2 percent from 3-point land on 34 attempts.

The Powder Springs, Ga. native hit double-digit points on 10 occasions, scored 24 points on 9-for-11 shooting at Oregon State, and surpassed that with a career-best 26 points vs. Bethune-Cookman, making all 11 attempts from the floor and recording a double-double with 11 rebounds. His performance against B-CC earned him co-offensive player of the week and rookie of the week honors from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Kelly was voted to the league's all-rookie team at the conclusion of the season.

"He runs the floor extremely well," Graves added. "He played the '5' at Savannah State and we'll be able to utilize his inside-outside capability in our system. This will allow him to shoot more 3-pointers and be able to show off his versatility."

As a prep at Cumberland Christian Academy, Kelly averaged 27.2 points and was a two-time all-state recipient. He was one of 12 male basketball players in the state of Georgia nominated for the McDonald's All-American game.

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