Basketball: Gibbs to stay for senior season

Guard Ashton Gibbs announced that he withdrew his name from the 2011 NBA Draft today and… Guard Ashton Gibbs announced that he withdrew his name from the 2011 NBA Draft today and will return to the Pitt men’s basketball team for his final season.

Gibbs said in a release on Pitt’s website that after considering his options with family and head coach Jamie Dixon, he believed that playing his senior season at Pitt was the right decision.

“The NBA can wait a year,” Gibbs said in the release. “I look forward to continuing the success that we’ve established here at Pitt and finish my collegiate career with all my teammates and fellow senior Nasir Robinson.”

A communication major, Gibbs added that he wants to finish his degree. The last day to withdraw from the draft is tomorrow.

In the release, Dixon said he’s excited that Gibbs will put on a Pitt uniform again next season. He supported Ashton’s consideration of the NBA, Dixon said, adding that any All-Big East First Team selection should look into professional basketball.

“Ashton is a tremendous representative for the University of Pittsburgh,” Dixon said. “He embodies everything you want in a student-athlete and has always made decisions for the right reasons. This is just another example.”

Gibbs and Robinson will be Pitt’s only returning starters next season. Gibbs was the only Pitt underclassman to consider the draft.

This past season, Gibbs was named an AP All-America honorable mention selection. He was third in the nation with a 49 percent 3-point field goal percentage and fifth in 3-point field goals per game with 3.3.

He led Pitt in scoring with 16.8 points per game and scored 20 or more points 12 times last season.

He’ll enter his senior season as a Panther 23rd in scoring with 1,207 points and fourth in 3-point field goals made with 216.