The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

AFTER testing the market and facing evaluation from scouts and coaches, Travis Munnings has withdrawn from the NBA Draft and has decided to return to school for his senior season.

Munnings will rejoin his University of Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks for the Fall 2018-2019 campaign, his final season of collegiate basketball.

In April, Munnings decided to test the professional ranks sooner than expected and become one of hundreds of early entrants to declare for the NBA Draft.

Munnings was named a Louisiana Sports Writers Association (LSWA) Men's College Basketball Team Third-team selection to add to his postseason accolades.

The junior forward averaged 15.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game. He was previously honoured as Second-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection and won Sun Belt Player of the Week.

En route to winning Conference Player of the Week honours, Munnings averaged 21 points and 5.5 rebounds while helping ULM to a homecourt sweep over UT Arlington (84-71) and Texas State (79-71). He also made 9-of-21 three pointers (41 per cent) during that two-game stretch. ULM basketball coach Keith Richard is already looking ahead to the continued growth of the Grand Bahama native as he heads into his senior season.

"I had him in and we talked about having a team around him as a senior that can make a run at this championship," Richard said about the team's series of exit interviews.

Munnings led the team in both scoring and rebounding and is a member of the 1,000-point club. As a freshman, the 6'6" forward averaged 7.2 points and 5.4 rebounds and increased those numbers to 13.2 points and 8.1 rebounds per game as a sophomore. "Travis is having an outstanding career. What I hope for him is that we're really good his senior year."

Munnings led the team in both scoring and rebounding and is a member of the 1,000-point club. Last year, ULM finished 16-16, 9-9 in the Sun Belt and reached the conference tournament quarter-finals. They won eight of their last 11 regular-season games and extended their season with a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, where they lost to Austin Peay in the first round.

ULM made its 12th postseason appearance in programme history in 2017-18. It marked the Warhawks' third trip to postseason play in the last four years, including their second appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. In 2016, ULM dropped its first-round CIT game at Furman, 58-57.

"Our programme," Richard said, "is on the upswing again."

The Warhawks supplemented the core of that team with solid recruiting to make a huge turnaround, battling to the championship series of the CBI Tournament.