Penn senior guard Ryan Betley commits to California for graduate transfer year

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Former Penn standout guard Ryan Betley is headed for a graduate transfer year at California, having averaged 11.6 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a senior, including a season-high 22 points in a Penn win at Providence in November. | Photo by Erica Denhoff

Penn senior guard Ryan Betley announced on Twitter Friday night that he will be spending his graduate transfer year at California.

Betley was Penn’s leading scorer during the team’s 2017-18 Ivy League championship season and was an effective sharpshooting wing for the Red & Blue. Betley averaged 12.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 30.9 minutes per game in 74 contests for Penn. From three-point range, Betley made 38.3% of his shots on his career.

Betley suffered a season-ending injury in the season opener of his junior year but came back from a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee to start 22 games in 2019-20. He missed five games due to injury in February but came back to finish the season.

Unlike recent Ivy grad transfers like Seth Towns and Bryce Aiken who have committed to schools closer to home, Betley, a Downingtown, Pa. native, is moving to the west coast.

I wanted to go to a good academic school that had a need for me on the basketball court,” Betley told the Daily Pennsylvanian. “Also, I stayed close to home for [my undergraduate studies,] so I wanted to explore a new area of the country in my extra year of eligibility.”