Arkansas junior guard Michael Qualls announced via his Twitter account that he intends to leave school to enter the NBA draft. The 21-year-old is a projected second round pick, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com ranking him as the No. 40 overall prospect and Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider subscription required) ranking Qualls as the 47th best player in this year’s draft.
In his announcement, Qualls wrote, “My time at the University of Arkansas has not only helped me grow as a basketball player, but also as a man and I’m very thankful for the guidance the coaching staff and everyone at the university has given me over my three years. After sitting down with my family I felt the best decision for me is to continue my basketball career as a professional. I’m ready to provide for my family and son. I can’t say thank you enough to the Razorback fans. Coming in as a kid from Louisiana they embraced me from the start like I was one of their own and have always shown me an amazing amount of support. That means a lot to me and I’ll forever be a Razorback.”
Qualls saw his scoring average increase with each season at Arkansas, logging a career high 15.9 points per game to go along with 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 30.2 minutes per contest during the 2014/15 campaign. His career averages are 11.0 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 1.5 APG. Qualls’ career shooting numbers are .428/.330/.723.