Virginia Tech Hokies men’s basketball guard Hysier Miller, a transfer from Temple, has been dismissed from the program, sources tell Sports Illustrated.
Miller was the leading scorer for the Owls last season before transferring to Virginia Tech in the spring. Temple wound up in the crosshairs of an investigation into unusual wagering activity on its games, SI reported in March. The NCAA has been involved in the investigation, and possibly other entities, sources say.
The Owls’ game against the UAB Blazers on March 7 was flagged by a gambling watchdog company, U.S. Integrity, for an unusual fluctuation in the point spread in the hours before the game.
At one casino, the line moved from UAB as a 1.5-point favorite over Temple at the beginning of the day to UAB as an eight-point favorite by mid-afternoon, then settled at seven closer to tip-off. The Blazers routed the Owls, 100–72, in Temple’s home gym, the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia. Miller scored eight points in the game, half of his season average, and committed three turnovers.
That was the second straight loss for Temple and the second straight game in which the Owls did not come close to covering the spread. They were favored by 5.5 points the previous game at home against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and lost by five. Tulsa opened the game by jumping out to a 16–2 lead and stayed ahead the rest of the way.
A source in the gambling space told SI in March that U.S. Integrity had been monitoring Temple games for a while. The American Athletic Conference is one of many NCAA conferences that employ U.S. Integrity to monitor gambling activity surrounding its member schools and to serve as an educational arm for teaching athletes and staff about how wagering is tracked. With the proliferation of legalized sports wagering, impermissible activity around college competitions has increased.
After finishing the regular season 12–19, Temple went on a surprising run in the AAC tournament, winning four straight and making the championship game before falling to UAB. Miller averaged 27.8 points during that league tournament run.
Miller announced he was entering the transfer portal shortly after the season. Among the schools Miller reportedly considered were Virginia, Providence and Seton Hall before committing to the Hokies.
It’s unclear what vetting Virginia Tech did of Miller’s time at Temple, but sources say new information came to light earlier this month regarding the probe at Temple. Tech posted a social media rundown of the Hokies’ guard situation from assistant coach Kevin Giltner last Friday that did not mention Miller, who was expected to provide an instant impact.
Miller did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Sources: Hysier Miller Dismissed From Virginia Tech Basketball Amid Gambling Probe Into Former Team.
