Oregon men’s basketball guard Keeshawn Barthelemy will weigh professional opportunities, stay at UO if he returns to college

© Sean Meagher/oregonlive.com/TNS Oregon Ducks guard Keeshawn Barthelemy (#3) sets up the offense during a second-round NIT college basketball game against the UCF Knights at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, Oregon on Sunday, March 19, 2023.

Keeshawn Barthelemy will mull whether to pursue a professional basketball opportunity, but if the guard chooses to return to college it’ll be at Oregon.

The fourth-year sophomore said he’s registered for spring quarter classes at UO and that healing his twisted ankle from Tuesday’s loss to Wisconsin in the NIT quarterfinals was his first priority. Barthelemy, who has two years of eligibility remaining, will discuss his plans for next season with the coaching staff and his family.

“I’m going to take it day by day, working on getting healthy, going to talk to the coaching staff and we’ll come up with a plan,” Barthelemy said. “The decision factor is going to be time. I got to talk to my family and I won’t be transferring schools at all; I’m here at Oregon. This is going to be my school. ... I got to think about what I can do and I’ll talk to my parents. I don’t even know if I’m going to test the waters in the NBA (draft). I’m going to talk to my parents to see if I can play pro ball somewhere, anywhere, but I’m open to anything. But Oregon is definitely, that’s my school. It’s where I see myself next year.”

Barthelemy averaged 12.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 19 games with eight starts for the Ducks this season after transferring from Colorado. He shot a team-high 35.8% from three-point range, 41.1% overall from the field and 80% from the free throw line.

Should he return to Oregon, Barthelemy would be the third player on this year’s roster to do so, with guard Jermaine Couisnard and center Nate Bittle already declaring their intent to stay at Oregon. Guard Rivaldo Soares was noncommittal about his plans for next season and he, center N’Faly Dante and forward Quincy Guerrier each have an additional year of eligibility, as does guard Tyrone Williams. Forward Lok Wur and guard Brennan Rigsby have two years of eligibility remaining and forward Ethan Butler has at least three and is seeking an additional year due to the injury he suffered this season.

The Ducks have three top 40 signees in Kwame Evans Jr., Mookie Cook and Jackson Shelstad and a commitment from junior college guard Jadrian Tracey.

Oregon coach Dana Altman was direct about the need for the team to get back after back-to-back NIT appearances.

“We’ll have meetings with all the guys,” Altman said. “They’re in finals this week so I don’t want to pressure them too much. We’ve got spring break next week. But we’ll grab a couple of them, we’ll start making some decisions pretty quickly.”

©2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.