Tulane Men’s Basketball: Former Southern Miss guard Watson granted immediate eligibility as transfer

NEW ORLEANS – Tulane men’s basketball head coach Ron Hunter announced that junior guard Gabe Watson has been granted immediate eligibility for the 2020-21 season.

Watson, who possesses two years of remaining eligibility beginning this fall, joins sophomores Jaylen Forbes and Kevin Cross who received the same news just last week.

“This is great news for Gabe, his family and our basketball program,” Hunter said. “He gives us the scoring and rebounding presence we need from our guards, and his experience will play a major role in achieving the goals we have for our team.”

Watson transferred to the Green Wave following two seasons at the University of Southern Mississippi, where he played in 64 games for the Golden Eagles and enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign. Making 29 starts, he improved his scoring by 8.5 points per game to a team-leading 13.0 per contest in 2019-20. He also led Southern Miss in assists (3.4) and minutes per game (35.6), while ranking first in Conference USA averaging 38 minutes of court time per contest in league play.

A Jackson, Mississippi native, Watson scored in double-figures 22 times and posted five 20-point scoring performances, all of which occurred on the road last season. He averaged 16 points per game in three games against Gonzaga, Seton Hall and Alabama at Battle 4 Atlantis and scored 20 points at Texas Tech. Watson also tallied a career-high 27 points at UAB and dished out a personal-best 11 assists against FIU during the conference slate, before racking up 24 points against Middle Tennessee in the first round of the C-USA Tournament – his final game for the Eagles.

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