Cal adds Grand Canyon transfer Jovan Blacksher Jr.

Cal basketball coach Mark Madsen filled one of his biggest remaining roster needs in landing a true point guard as Grand Canyon transfer Jovan Blacksher Jr. announced his commitment Tuesday.

Blacksher, a 5-foot-11 guard who has one season of eligibility remaining, racked up accolades during his five years at Grand Canyon.

He was named the WAC Freshman of the Year in 2019-20, an All-WAC second-team selection and MVP of the conference tournament as a sophomore, an All-WAC first-teamer in his third season and the WAC preseason player of the year entering 2022-23 before a knee injury limited him to 12 games.

Blacksher averaged double-figures in scoring and at least 1.5 steals per game each of those four seasons -- including a career-best 15.8 points per game in 2021-22 -- before coming off the bench for Grand Canyon this past season, averaging 4.8 PPG in 15.3 minutes per game while working his way back from that ACL injury. He averaged a career-best 5.4 assists per game in 2020-21, giving Madsen and the Bears the experienced point guard they coveted.

Cal has one scholarship remaining after earlier adding transfer center Lee Dort (from Vanderbilt), forward B.J. Omot (North Dakota), guard DJ Campbell (Western Carolina), guard Christian Tucker (UTSA), forward Joshua Ola-Joseph (Minnesota), forward Andrej Stojakovic (Stanford), forward Rytis Petraitis (Air Force) and center Mady Sissoko (Michigan State). They join just two returning players in forward Devin Curtis and guard Vladimir Pavlovic and incoming freshman guard Jeremiah Wilkinson.