Tulane signs transfer guard Gabe Watson

NEW ORLEANS – After competing at the University of Southern Miss for the last two seasons, junior transfer Gabe Watson has signed his grant-in-aid to officially join second-year head coach Ron Hunter and the Tulane men’s basketball program.

Under current NCAA transfer rules, Watson will be required to sit out next season but will take the court for the 2021-22 campaign with two years of eligibility remaining. He chose the Green Wave over offers from Maryland and Mississippi State.

“Gabe is a talented and proven guard that can score in multiple ways,” Hunter said. “He was a double-digit scorer in a good league last year and will boost our backcourt with leadership and experience.”

A 6’2 guard, Watson played 64 games for the Golden Eagles over the last two seasons, but enjoyed a breakout 2019-20 campaign, improving his scoring by 8.5 points per game to a team-leading 13.0 per contest. In 29 starts, he also led Southern Miss in assists (3.4) and minutes per game (35.6), while ranked first in Conference USA averaging 38 minutes in league play.

Watson scored in double-figures 22 times and posted five 20-point scoring performances, all of which occurred on the road. 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. The Jackson, Miss., native tallied a career-high 27 points at UAB and a personal-best 11 assists against FIU, before racking up 24 points against Middle Tennessee in the first round of the C-USA Tournament – his final game for the Eagles.

Watson becomes the fifth newcomer to join the Green Wave this offseason along with Pitt graduate transfer Ryan Murphy, Vanderbilt freshman transfer Oton Jankovic. Incoming freshmen Sion James and Jadan Coleman signed National Letters of Intent in November.

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