Former Illini Andre Curbelo Dismissed from Southern Mississippi Basketball

Per head coach Jay Ladner, former Illini basketball star point guard, Andre Curbelo, has been dismissed from the Southern Mississippi basketball program. This is the second time this season that Curbelo has made the news for disciplinary reasons, however, this time it looks like his college career may very well be over. Andre Curbelo is in his second year with the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and in his fifth season of college basketball.

After an incredible freshman year on a team that became a one-seed in the NCAA tournament, Curbelo dealt with a rather serious concussion at the beginning of his sophomore season. After that injury, the Puerto Rican point guard never seemed to recover.

Southern Miss MBB coach Jay Ladner said after the postgame loss to Louisiana that Andre Curbelo has been dismissed from the team.

— Andrew Abadie (@AndrewAbadie) February 23, 2025

Statement from head coach Jay Ladner

“Andre Curbelo is no longer a member of our program and we would like to wish him the best in all of his future endeavors,” 

Andre Curbelo’s final college basketball play was picking up his second technical foul on the bench.

What a legend. pic.twitter.com/mIZnLNylWw

— Vox Sluggicals (@pebisjones) February 23, 2025

It seems that Curbelo fouled out of his last game vs Coastal Carolina. On top of that, Curbelo received two technical fouls and was ejected from the game. This has been a recurrent theme for Curbelo as he tends to get emotional and have some kind of qualms with the referees. This probably led to some further issues and sparked Curbelo’s dismissal from the program.

During this season, he was averaging 9.8 ppg, 3.6 RPG, 4.7 APG, and 1.9 steals per game. Personally, this is quite a sad drop-off for the former Illini. He had just won Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year and was getting legitimate NBA interest. Unfortunately, that concussion changed his trajectory and now his college basketball career is over.

Andre Curbelo will end his career having the worst projected turnover percentage of any player in the country.

What a legend. https://t.co/chOO6sSFNY pic.twitter.com/GciOJpqxCe

— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) February 23, 2025

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