Sept. 2, 2015
SAN DIEGO - Montaque Gill-Caesar has transferred to San Diego State from Missouri and joined the SDSU men's basketball program, head coach Steve Fisher announced today. Gill-Caesar, who will sit out the 2015-16 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules, will be a sophomore in 2016-17.
"We are very excited to have Montaque on campus, officially as a student and a basketball player," Fisher said. "He comes with a pedigree that we like, but more importantly, he comes with a skill set that we like. He has to sit out (this season), but he is a talented perimeter player, who has size and athleticism to play multiple spots, which is a quality that we covet and has made us good over the years. He's excited to be here and we're excited to have him."
The 6-6, 215-pounder from Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, comes to Montezuma Mesa following his freshman campaign at Missouri last season. While in Columbia, he averaged 9.1 points (third on team) and 3.0 rebounds in 27 games, which included starting nods in the first 13 games of the season. His scoring average was the highest for a Tiger freshman since the 2006-07 season.
Gill-Caesar's career started off on a high note with a career-high 21-point, 7-rebound performance in his Missouri debut vs. UMKC. He then went on to score in double figures in seven of his next 11 games. For the year, he finished with 13 double-figure scoring efforts, including in two of his final three games of 2014-15, despite being plagued with a back injury suffered in late December.
Prior to him averaging 11.5 points during the non-conference portion of Missouri's schedule, Gill-Caesar was a top-50 player in the class of 2015 at Huntington Prep (W.Va.) before reclassifying and attending the Columbia, Missouri, school. While at Huntington Prep, he was named the 2014 Gatorade Player of the Year in the state after putting up 16.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.7 steals in 2013-14. That season, he helped his squad to a 28-5 record and a No. 5 national ranking. A fifth-team All-American by MaxPreps, Gill-Caesar played for Team Canada in the 2014 FIBA Americas U18 Championship where he averaged 19.6 points and helped his country to a silver medal.
Gill-Caesar will be able to practice with the Aztecs in 2015-16 while sitting out the year much like Indiana transfer Max Hoetzel (F, 6-8, 220), who arrived on campus this past summer.
Gill-Caesar joins a San Diego State program that has advanced to a school-record six consecutive NCAA tournaments (eighth-longest active streak in America) and is fresh off its Mountain West-leading ninth conference championship. SDSU is also one of nine schools nationally to have appeared in at least the round of 32 in the NCAA tournament in each of the last three seasons.