MANHATTAN โ As Kansas State University basketball's recruiting momentum appears to have stalled, two former Wildcats found a new home close to home Wednesday.
Freshman guard RJ Jones will remain in the Big 12 after attending TCU near his hometown of Denton, Texas. Center Jerrell Colbert, a Houston native, also ended up attending Southern Methodist University in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Colbert, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound sophomore, started the Wildcats' last 13 games under center after redshirting the 2022-23 season as a transfer from LSU. He played in 31 games, averaging 2.6 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 32 blocked shots.
Colbert, one of the first players signed by new Wildcat coach Jerome Tann in 2022, had a career-high 15 points and 17 rebounds in a March 2 game at Cincinnati. He also had 10 points and eight rebounds against North Alabama in December.
The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Jones is a highly touted four-star high school prospect who graduated from Wasatch Academy in Utah last year, along with guard Dai Dai Ames and forward Makaleab Rich. He was a member of the 2023 Wildcat freshman class. Ames, K-State's starting point guard, also entered the portal late last month, so Ricci is the only one left on the roster.
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Related:Kansas State basketball hits the portal again with guard Dai Dai Ames leaving
One of seven players to enter the portal at K-State since the end of the season, Jones appeared in 28 games for the Wildcats, averaging 2.4 points, 0.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists in limited minutes. Recorded. His best performance of the 2023-24 season came three games into the season, when he had 14 points and three assists in 19 minutes against South Dakota State.
During his single season with the Wildcats, Jones was primarily a 3-point shooter, making 57 of 68 field goal attempts and 17 of 20 from beyond the arc.
Colbert and Jones are the third and fourth K-State transfers to find a new home. Previously, junior guard Cam Carter, the Wildcats' second-leading scorer with 14.6 points per game, signed with LSU, and backup guard Dorian Finister signed with Sam Houston State.
Meanwhile, it was a tough recruiting week for Mr Tan and his staff as they missed out on their top two recruitment targets. Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi committed to Alabama and Arkansas guard Khalif Battle committed to Gonzaga, both after visiting Manhattan and making the Wildcats a finalist.
Related:Kansas State basketball team adds sharp-shooting Villanova guard from transfer portal
In addition, junior forward Arthur Calma severed his ties with K-State by entering the portal after already declaring for the NBA Draft with an option to return. Calma was the team's third-leading scorer behind graduate Tyler Perry and Carter, averaging 14.4 points and a team-best 7.0 rebounds.
Tan signed four transfers and four-star high school recruits, but still needs to award five scholarships to reach the 13-man roster limit. He recently said in a series of interviews that he wants to have most of the team in place by the first week of May.
Kalma's departure leaves three players from the 2023-24 Wildcat team, which lost to Iowa 19-15 in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament. Forward David Nguessan, who started 21 games and averaged 7.8 points and 6.8 rebounds, announced he would return as a fifth-year super senior, but the other two are rarely used freshman forward Ricci. and Taj Manning.
The rookies for the 2024-25 season so far include former Michigan point guard Doug McDaniel, Chicago, Illinois shooting guard CJ Jones, Villanova sharpshooter Brendan Hausen, and Arkansas' In addition to big man Bey Fall, they are high school guard David Castillo.
Related:Kansas State basketball team heads to the Big Apple in December for Big 12/Big East battle.
The 5-11, 175-pound McDaniel averaged 16.3 points and 4.7 assists as a sophomore at Michigan, while Wing-Jones, 6-5, averaged 11.4 points and 4.5 assists as a sophomore at UIC. Hausen, 6-4, 205 pounds, was a key reserve for Villanova in his second season, contributing 6.2 points on 38 percent shooting from 3-point range.
All three guards shot over 36 percent from 3-point range, filling a clear need for the Wildcats.
Fall, a 6-11, 215-pounder from Senegal, played in nine games as a freshman at Arkansas, but there was a big upside. He was named a 2023 McDonald's All-American at his accelerated school in Denver.
K-State's most immediate need is veteran help up front, and Nguessan is the only experienced post player.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett Network. You can contact him at: agreen@gannett.com Or on Twitter @arnegreen.