Rigdon Set to Leave UCI for Arizona

After playing two seasons for losing teams at UC Irvine, Dylan Rigdon has decided to finish his college career at Arizona, where the victories are more frequent but his playing time may be more scarce.

“It’s going to be very competitive, they let me know that,” said Rigdon, a shooting guard who played at Mater Dei High School.

Rigdon’s transfer will be final as soon as he signs scholarship papers and is formally admitted to the school, he said. An attempt to reach Arizona Coach Lute Olson was unsuccessful.

After an outstanding freshman season at Irvine, Rigdon started 19 of 30 games for UC Irvine last year. He scored a career-high 31 points in a game in January, but by late in the season he was benched by former Coach Bill Mulligan after falling into a prolonged scoring slump. Rigdon finished the season with an 11.7 average, and would have been the Anteaters’ leading returning scorer.

Irvine went 5-23 during his freshman season, the worst record in school history, and was 11-19 last year.

Mulligan retired after the season, and after Rod Baker was hired as Mulligan’s replacement, Rigdon announced he would transfer because he felt he “needed a change,” not because he did not want to play for Baker.

Rigdon must sit out a season at Arizona under NCAA transfer regulations, and will have two years of eligibility remaining.

Rigdon was not recruited by any Pacific 10 schools out of high school, but said Arizona coaches told him there was an opening for him this year because sophomore guard Casey Schmidt left the program.

Arizona, a regular in the top 20, finished with a 28-7 record last season, losing to Seton Hall in the third round of the NCAA tournament.

Rigdon said he is satisfied with his decision to leave Irvine.

“In some ways, I had a real good time,” he said. “In others, it was disappointing. I played two years and got a lot of playing time. We didn’t win much.