Pilgrim, a 6-foot-8, 235-pound forward, began his college career at Hampton. He transferred to Kentucky and sat out last season per NCAA rules. Pilgrim became the equivalent of a college “free agent” after John Calipari replaced Billy Gillispie as Kentucky’s coach. Calipari oversigned when he brought in his first class of recruits and chose not to renew Pilgrim’s scholarship.

Pilgrim, who visited Stillwater in June, said he chose OSU over Maryland, Memphis and his hometown school, Cincinnati. He said he liked the OSU program and said he and head coach Travis Ford “just kind of clicked.”

“And I saw how hard the players worked and I can definitely relate to that, so it seems to be a good fit,” Pilgrim said.

Pilgrim will be a junior on the court and a senior in the classroom next season. He is transferring for the second time in two years and, because he didn’t play last season and because of the circumstances that caused him to leave Kentucky, he hopes to win an NCAA appeal that would allow him to be immediately eligible for the upcoming season. “I’m staying positive about it,” he said.

Pilgrim said Hampton is a good program, but he transferred from there to Kentucky because he wants to be a pro someday and he wanted to challenge himself. He averaged 11.0 points and 5.3 rebounds as a Hampton freshman, earning MEAC rookie of the week honors four times. He missed nine games that season with a broken foot, then scored 13 in his collegiate debut againt Virginia. He averaged 7.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in his other season at Hampton.