Former Auburn combo forward Yohan Traore is heading west — to the Big West, that is.

Traore committed to UC Santa Barbara on Friday, according to multiple reports from ESPN and On3. Traore, a former five-star recruit in the 2022 class, entered the transfer portal last month shortly after Auburn’s season ended in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

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Traore will join a UC Santa Barbara program that is coming off a 27-8 campaign under coach Joe Pasternack, as the Gauchos went 15-5 in the Big West, won the conference tournament championship and earned a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament. UC Santa Barbara lost in the opening round to Baylor. The Gauchos have made the NCAA Tournament in two of the last three seasons.

Rated as the No. 24 overall prospect in the 2022 class, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Traore appeared in 25 games off the bench for Bruce Pearl’s team as a true freshman but played double-digit minutes just once after the start of SEC play in late December. The 6-foot-10 French native averaged 2.1 points and 1.4 rebounds per game last season, shooting 40 percent from the field but just 19.2 percent from beyond the arc.

He was part of Auburn’s regular rotation during nonconference play and logged double-digit minutes off the bench in 11 of the 12 games he appeared in during that stretch. However, he all but fell out of the regular rotation once SEC play got underway, playing sporadically as Auburn went 10-8 in conference action and earned a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Traore, a former five-star prospect, originally signed with LSU before the end of his senior year but was granted a release from his letter of intent after the program fired Will Wade amid NCAA scandal. Traore then visited Auburn before ultimately committing to Pearl’s program in late March last year.

Traore was one of three 2022 signees Auburn brought in last season, joining four-star guard/wing Chance Westry and three-star point guard Tre Donaldson. Shortly after Traore announced his intent to transfer last month, Westry also hit the portal (and recently committed to Syracuse), leaving Donaldson as the lone remaining member of the Tigers’ signing class. In all, Auburn has had three players transfer out of the program since the end of the season, as reserve big man Stretch Akingbola announced his intent to enter the portal as a graduate transfer upon the completion of his undergraduate degree this summer.

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.