KU’s Newman declares for draft

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Malik Newman has played his last game for the Kansas basketball team.

Newman, a 6-foot-3 redshirt sophomore guard from Jackson, Miss., who was the Jayhawks’ best player during the squad’s NCAA Tournament run to the Final Four in 2018, has declared for the NBA draft and will leave the program, he announced Wednesday.

“We kind of figured I’d sit out a year (after transferring from Mississippi State after his freshman year), then if things go as planned the year I played, then yeah, most definitely I’d try to pursue that dream of being in the NBA,” Newman said in a phone interview with The Star.

“I talked to Coach (Bill) Self and my family and this is the best time to do it,” Newman added.

Newman started 33 of 39 games, averaging 14.2 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He was selected the 2018 Big 12 Newcomer of the Year, and was an all-Big 12 honorable-mention selection and member of the conference’s All-Newcomer Team.

DUKE: Freshman Trevon Duval is entering the NBA draft and plans to hire an agent. He is the 14th Duke freshman to declare for the draft, and the second this offseason..

MIAMI: Freshman guard Lonnie Walker IV says he’ll turn pro this year, a move anticipated even before his college career began. Walker announced Wednesday on Twitter that he’ll hire an agent.

EAST CAROLINA: Joe Dooley of Florida Gulf Coast is the new men’s head coach, and he agreed to a fiveyear contract. It will be the former New Mexico assistant’s second stint as Pirates head coach.