UTM head men’s basketball coach Anthony Stewart announced that Craig Randall II has joined the Skyhawk program. A 6-4, 185-pound redshirt junior guard out of Youngstown, Ohio, Randall played for two seasons at the University of Memphis (2015-17) before transferring to Duquesne University for the 2017-18 campaign.
“I’ve known Craig and his family for many years,” Stewart said. “Craig is a remarkable young man who is an accomplished high-level player. He has great size and length for a guard and has a very high basketball IQ. I’m glad he is here at UT Martin.”
Under NCAA transfer guidelines, Randall sat out last season at Duquesne under head coach Keith Dambrot. That came after Randall saw playing time in 56 total games for former head coaches Josh Pastner (2015-16) and Tubby Smith (2016-17) at Memphis. Randall helped lead the Tigers to back-to-back 19-win seasons and an appearance in the American Athletic Conference championship game during his freshman season.
As a sophomore, Randall averaged 5.2 points over 18.1 minutes per contest as one of only five players to play in all 32 games. He knocked down 36 three-pointers to go along with 45 rebounds, 33 assists and 20 steals. He scored a career-best 21 points against Savannah State on Nov. 19, 2016 and also chipped in high-scoring performances against McNeese (18 points on Nov. 22), at Iowa (15 points on Nov. 26) and at UConn (13 points on Feb. 16).
Randall sank multiple three-pointers in eight different outings in 2016-17, including back-to-back games with five trifectas. He handed out a career-best four assists on three different occasions while notching four multi-steal games.
The southpaw cracked Memphis’ starting lineup as a freshman, starting five consecutive conference games from Feb. 6-20. Randall was responsible for a pair of double-digit scoring games, tallying 10 points at Houston (Feb. 10) and against UCF (Feb. 17). He snared at least five rebounds in three outings, including a career-high six boards in just 12 minutes against IUPUI on Dec. 22.
Randall was a highly-touted recruit out of Shadow Mountain High School, as he was a three-star recruit who was named the No. 1 high school player in the state of Arizona by ESPN.com. He was also tabbed as the No. 26 player in the West Region and the No. 36 point guard in the country after averaging 21.2 points, 5.6 assists, 4.7 rebounds and 2.5 steals during his senior campaign.
Playing for 1997 NCAA champion and 14-year NBA veteran Mike Bibby, Randall scored in double-figures in 29 out of 30 games while producing 16 games of at least 20 points as a senior. That includes four 30-plus point performances with his season-best 36 points coming against Copper Canyon. He was named the PrepHoopsArizona.com 2014-15 Division II Player of the Year and was also tabbed to the Arizona Republic All-USA Arizona American Family Insurance Team after helping guide the Matadors to a 23-7 overall record.
Randall played his junior season at Medina High School in Ohio, averaging 20.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists for a squad that went 19-7 and made an appearance in the Copley Division I district title game.
Randall’s first two prep seasons were spent at Girard High School, located just outside of his hometown in Youngstown. He pumped in 23.4 points per game as a sophomore in 2012-13 while chalking up his second consecutive All-Northeast Inland District honor.
Randall comes from a gifted basketball family, as his father L. Craig scored 1,503 career points at Westminster College and is in their school’s Hall of Fame. His mother Karla played at Kent State while his older brother Lance played at Thiel College and currently coaches at a basketball academy in China. His brother Kyle averaged 18.7 points per game at Central Michigan in 2012-13 and is currently playing in the NBA G League.
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