Arizona transfer Ira Lee commits to George Washington

Arizona Wildcats transfer forward Ira Lee will be continuing his career at George Washington University in D.C., he announced Friday.

Lee will be a fifth-year senior and have one year of eligibility with the Colonials, who have not had a winning season since 2016-17.

A former top-100 recruit, Lee should be able to carve out a much bigger role than he did at Arizona, where he was a four-year backup and averaged 3.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 13.1 minutes across 113 career games. Lee’s monstrous blocks and dunks and overall positive energy made him a fan favorite anyway.

After UA’s last game Lee wrote: “I have so many emotions and memories that I could write a book. These 4 years have been eye opening and a lot of fun, Love you guys forever and thankful to be a Wildcat for life.”

Lee departs the UA as one of just eight Sean Miller-coached players to sign with Arizona out of high school and stay with the Wildcats for four years. He will be a valuable locker room presence for the Colonials.

“Ira is a great kid,” Miller said during the season. “He’s one of the most popular players on all four teams that he’s played on. And trust me, there’s a lot of guys that come and go during the four years he’s been here. So if you take inventory of what I just said, being a great teammate, really caring about the team that he’s a part of, respecting our basketball program, those are things that Ira gets an A+ in. He’s also going to graduate, and getting a degree from the University of Arizona alone is quite an accomplishment. So he’ll do that this spring and I also think that he’s been a key contributor and been able to impact each of the four teams that he’s been on.”