Jamal Mashburn Jr. commits to Temple
Temple head coach Adam Fisher and his staff landed their first transfer portal addition when former Minnesota and New Mexico guard Jamal Mashburn Jr. announced his commitment to the Owls Monday on social media.
Mashburn Jr., who tallied 1,629 points over the course of the last three seasons at New Mexico, committed to Temple last Saturday during an official visit, a source familiar with his recruitment told OwlScoop.com.
Mashburn Jr., the son of the former Kentucky star and NBA All-Star of the same name, averaged 14.1 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game this season for a Lobos team that received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament by winning the Mountain West Tournament. Sixth-seeded Clemson, which advanced to the Elite Eight, shut down New Mexico and Mashburn Jr. in the first round, holding the two-time All-Mountain West guard to just six points on 1 of 11 shooting in the Lobos’ 77-56 loss.
Rivals ranked Mashburn Jr. as a 4-star transfer recruit and the No. 103 overall player in the portal. He was a 4-star recruit and the 119th-ranked player in the 2020 class out of Brewster Academy. He signed with Richard Pitino and Minnesota over offers from schools like UConn and Miami (where Fisher was an assistant at the time), and then followed Pitino to New Mexico after averaging 8.2 points per game as a freshman.
Mashburn Jr.’s 14.1 points-per-game average this past season represented a dip from the previous two seasons in which he averaged 19.1 points per game in 2022-23 and 18.2 points per contest in his first season at New Mexico, but a ligament injury to his right thumb that forced him to miss seven games in November and December and lingered throughout the rest of the season played a part in that. Mashburn Jr. should provide an immediate lift to a Temple backcourt that lost point guard and leading scorer Hysier Miller and second-leading scorer Jordan Riley to the transfer portal. Mashburn Jr. is a proven scorer who can get to the rim and finish through contact, and he’s committed just 188 turnovers in 123 career games, an average of just 1.5 turnovers per contest.
Mashburn Jr. was a first-team All-Mountain West selection in 2023 and garnered third-team all-conference honors in 2022. He scored 21 points last month in helping New Mexico upset San Diego State to win the Mountain West Conference tournament title and was named to the all-tournament team.