Things don’t always work out.

After a successful freshman season at the University of California where he averaged 12.2 points per game and was among the very best freshmen in the Pac-12 Conference, a coaching change prompted 5-foot-11-inch guard Charlie Moore to seek opportunities elsewhere. He landed with the perennial blue-blood University of Kansas Jayhawks.

To say the change of scenery didn’t work out would be understatement.

As a Jayhawk, Moore averaged 2.9 points per game on 28.6 percent from the field as he struggled to earn meaningful playing opportunities with guys like Devon Dotson, Lagerald Vick and Quentin Grimes ahead of him on the depth chart. Billed as a shooter, Moore shot just 26.7 percent from 3-point land at Kansas, failing to connect on a 3-point field goal in 69 percent of his games in a Kansas uniform.

“I think confidence and not really feeling comfortable in a role where you fit was probably as much of a factor in his [low] 3-point percentages as anything,” Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com Kansas basketball beat writer Matt Tait said. “He got out there and didn’t really get in the flow very often.”

The low 3-point shooting percentage coupled with a high turnover rate [2.7 turnovers per 40 minutes despite a 19.4 percent usage percentage] and questionable defense at times limited Moore’s playing time to 13.1 minutes per game during his stay at Kansas.

“[During] his time at Cal, when he’d make a mistake they’d take him out of the game then they’d have to put him back in because they didn’t have enough good players to not give him minutes at the end of the day,” 247 Sports Kansas beat writer Scott Chasen said. “At Kansas, if you make mistakes you aren’t going to play the rest of the game because Kansas has a ton of McDonald’s All-Americans and five star kids and guys who can do it at any level. There were games where Charlie Moore played little or none and it was basically because he never had a stretch where he played consistently well. He looked like a guy who was so afraid of not making mistakes that he’s afraid to shoot, he’s afraid of getting involved, he just kind of fades out because he doesn’t want to do the wrong thing. That kind of effect really spiraled for him.”

According to Chasen, the uptick in competition level didn’t help Moore either. Per KenPom.com, Kansas played the toughest schedule in the nation last season. Moore’s best game of the season, he exploded for 18 points on 6-for-9 from 3-point land, was on Dec. 18 against South Dakota, a team that checks in with the No. 229th highest KenPom.com ranking in the country. Moore posted a zero in the scoring column while playing at least five minutes on nine occasions and eight of those nine instances were against high-major programs.

In contrast, during Moore’s one season, at California the Golden Bears had the 76th toughest schedule in the nation per KenPom.com. At California, Moore’s scoring output and shooting percentage dipped once the schedule flipped to conference play as well.

But his time at Kansas, and at California, are now in the past. Last week, Stadium college basketball insider Jeff Goodman reported that Moore will return to his hometown of Chicago to play for the DePaul Blue Demons. Moore’s father is battling an illness and he will apply for a family hardship waiver [the justification is that he needed to be closer to home to be with his father] and per a source the expectation is the NCAA will approve his family hardship waiver and he’ll become immediately eligible to play.

“Charlie Moore adds an all-around experienced guard to our program that can shoot and distribute the ball at a high level,” Blue Demon head coach Dave Leitao said in a statement posted on DePaul athletics’ website. “He also brings high-level experience from playing in both the Pac-12 and Big 12 Conferences and his return to his hometown is exciting for our fans and basketball fans in Chicago.”

At 5-foot-11-inches tall with good passing skills, Moore has the look of a point guard. But don’t be fooled, because that isn’t his best position.

“Last summer, when I was talking to [Kansas head coach Bill] Self about Charlie, I think one of the things that I remember he said that stood out was everybody wants to play him at point guard because of his size, but there’s no question that he is a scorer,” Tait said. “That’s his best skill and his first skill and the thing that they were hoping to get out of him the most.”

At least with the Blue Demons, it’s probably a good thing that Moore projects more as a shooting guard than a point guard. The Blue Demons have an excess of point guards on their roster right now. Devin Gage is the veteran returner while Flynn Cameron returns as well with a year of Big East Conference experience and an extended postseason run under his belt.

Former Kansas commit Markese Jacobs is an incoming four-star recruit who will eventually contribute significantly, but is recovering from partially tearing the ACL in his right knee at the end of January.

With John Diener entering the transfer portal, Moore will likely compete for playing time with incumbent shooting guard Jalen Coleman-Lands should Leitao indeed use him at this position. Incoming freshman Oscar Lopez also plays this position and could factor into the playing time divide as well.

With the talent on the roster for next season, Leitao hopes the change of scenery will unlock Moore’s shot again and that he can become a valuable floor spacer for a team that will look to build upon the 38.2 percent 3-point percentage [second in the Big East Conference] they posted in conference play last season.

Irrespective of his struggles at Kansas, Moore was a four-star talent out of high school who was ranked 61st in his class by ESPN.com and 71st by 247sports.com. He contributed immediately during his freshman season at California in a major college basketball conference and was good enough to earn a transfer spot at Kansas which isn’t an easy by any means. The Blue Demons hope the talent will prevail over his past struggles and that he’ll turn things around in Lincoln Park.

“I think with Charlie Moore, if he could just go on the floor and play within himself and just do the things he’s good at doing and not try to do more or try to do too much, I think he could be a really good player,” Tait said. “I think he’s a really good fit at DePaul.”

To put it more bluntly:

“He was horrible at Kansas, but he isn’t a horrible basketball player,” Chasen said.