Oregon State Basketball: Maryland Transfer Center Chol Marial Picks The Beavers

Chol Marial, a towering 7’ 2” center from the University of Maryland, broke some stunning news via Twitter on Wednesday, when he announced that he would be continuing his college basketball career at Oregon State. The native of South Sudan was in the transfer portal for just two weeks, after stating his intention to leave the Terps after two seasons in the program.

Ranked as the #60 overall prospect in the class of 2019 coming out of high school, the towering talent was viewed as a four-star prospect who should’ve had an immediate impact for the Terps. However, due to injuries, Marial struggled to find regular playing time, eventually averaging just 1.6 points and 1.1 rebounds per contest in 18 games of action during the 2020-2021 season. He scored a career-high 7 points on November 25th in an 18-point victory over Old Dominion.

Two interesting tidbits about Marial is that first, he’s the cousin of NBA player Thon Maker and that second, he possesses a 7’ 8” wingspan, which has kept him on the radar of NBA scouts since high school as a continuously improving player. If he can fill the void on the interior for the Beavers, he may give them their most dominant center piece (sans Roman Silva’s NCAA Tournament run) in recent memory.