Early leaves Herd, citing personal reasons

The junior, who has played with the Thundering Herd for three seasons after his high school career at Logan (West Virginia), saw a reduction in play this season, appearing in just 13 of the 27 games while he was on the roster.

That’s down from 32 games during the 2021-22 season and 22 games the year before.

In 67 games with the Thundering Herd, Early averaged 4.3 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per contest, seeing the floor for an average of 14.4 minutes.

After playing in each of the Herd’s games last season, starting in 11 of those, Early was the third man off the bench most nights in coach Dan D’Antoni’s rotation this year, behind Wyatt Fricks and Jacob Conner.

But it isn’t often that D’Antoni even goes that far into the bench, as he’s largely comfortable with his first seven. He did dip that deep on Thursday, and with Early no longer an option, Goran Miladinovic got minutes in the victory against Georgia Southern.

Miladinovic made his 12th appearance of the season against the Eagles and has played just 80 minutes, a reduced role from his previous three years in the program. He made 25 starts last season.

Fellow senior Taevion Kinsey said Miladinovic, the 7-footer who carries the nickname “Big G,” was ready when his number was called.

He logged a season-high 13 minutes in the contest, scoring five points, blocking one shot and hauling in a single defensive rebound.

“If you know ‘Big G,’ he never complains. He was a starting big last year; now Micah is our starter and he never complained. He helped make Micah better in practice,” Kinsey said. “I think he was ready for that moment, and he showed it today.”