Louisiana-Lafayette forward/center Shawn Long intends to return to school for his senior season and bypass this year’s draft, Luke Johnson of The Acadiana Advocate tweets (hat tip to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com via Twitter). Long’s play helped the Ragin’ Cajuns notch a record of 22-14 this past season.
The 22-year-old was projected to be a borderline second-rounder if he entered this year’s NBA draft, with Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress rating him the No. 58 overall prospect. Long does not appear on Chad Ford of ESPN.com‘s list of his top-100 college prospects (Insider subscription required).
In 34 games this past season, the 6’9″ Long averaged 16.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 blocks in 28.0 minutes per contest. His career averages are 16.8 PPG, 10.3 RPG, 1.0 APG, and 2.1 BPG. Long’s career shooting percentages are .496/.360/.674.