Sirtautas becomes 4th Cowboy to enter portal

Mar. 22—LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming men's basketball team lost its fourth player to the NCAA transfer portal early Friday morning, just five days after it officially opened.

Forward Jonas Sirtautas — who sat out this past season because he was ineligible — joined guards Brendan Wenzel and Jacob Theodosiou and forward Caden Powell in the portal.

Sirtautas stands 6-foot-10 and comes from Lithuania. While he never saw the floor during his lone season in Laramie, Sirtautas garnered plenty of praise from UW coach Jeff Linder during practice.

"(Jonas) is probably as good of an athlete that I've ever coached," Linder said in November. "You watch him in warmup lines, he is an elite athlete. I think he touched (12 feet, 4 inches) when we tested his vertical. He literally can touch the top of the backboard.

"From an eligibility standpoint, he can't play this year, but he's a guy that has a lot of upside and is kind of a late bloomer. He didn't grow until here late, but he has a lot of upside."

The transfer portal remains open until May 1.

Alex Taylor is the assistant editor for WyoSports and covers University of Wyoming athletics. He can be reached at ataylor@wyosports.net. Follow him on X at @alex_m_taylor22.