Rutgers Basketball Lands Manhattan Forward Transfer Will Sydnor

Rutgers basketball has picked up another piece in the transfer portal, this time making an addition to their front court, as they have landed Manhattan forward Will Sydnor. Sydnor joins the Scarlet Knights after spending two years at Manhattan; however, he only played one season with the Jaspers, missing his entire sophomore season due to NCAA eligibility issues.

However, during his freshman season, Sydnor established himself as a rising star in the MAAC. During the 30 games he appeared in for Manhattan, He averaged 13.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game while shooting 45.1 percent from the floor, 34.8 percent from three-point range, and 63 percent from the free throw line. Of those 30 games he played in, he started 29 of them and averaged 29.5 minutes per game over that span.

Sydnor originally joined Manhattan out of the 2024 recruitment class and spent his high school days playing for the Patrick School in New Jersey, despite being originally from the Bronx. He was unranked as a prospect coming out of high school by both 247sports and Rivals/On3, and he is still unranked as a transfer prospect by both sites.

Sydnor is just one element of an effort Rutgers has made to rebuild their frontcourt in the transfer portal. One of, if not the most important, portal pickups for the Knights so far is the addition of Center Christian Gurdak from Virginia Tech. During just his freshman season with the Hokies, the 6-foot-10, 260-pound Gurdak played in 31 games and started 10. Over that time, he averaged 5.6 points per game, 4.4 rebounds per game, and 0.3 assists per game. He also proved himself to be a solid shooter, hitting 63.2 percent of his shots from the floor and 71.4 percent of his shots from the rim.

In addition to both Sydnor and Gurdak, Rutgers has also landed Central Connecticut State forward Darin Smith, who was named the NEC player of the year last season. During his sophomore season, the 6-foot-7, 210-pounder averaged 20.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 37.6 percent from beyond the arc and 89.8 percent from the free throw line.

The current outlook for Rutgers is that these three will be leaned on heavily to man the front court. With all of them having to make the jump to Big Ten play, there will be an adjustment period as they get themselves up to speed. The good news for Rutgers is that if they want to retain them after next season, they might be able to, as Smith is only going into just his junior year, while both Sydnor and Gurdak have three years of eligibility remaining.

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