Kansas basketball receives interest from a pair of potential transfers
LAWRENCE — The college basketball season isn't over yet, and transfer portal is already garnering a lot of attention.
Many players have announced they intend to transfer. Some have even revealed where they intend to play next season. And while the Kansas Jayhawks have yet to have any public commitments, a couple of players have announced recently on X — the social media platform formerly known as Twitter — that KU is one of the final four schools they are considering.
One of those players is Riley Kugel, a sophomore guard this past season who'd be departing Florida. The other is Zeke Mayo, a junior guard this past season who'd be departing South Dakota State. One's a high-major prospect and the other from the mid-major ranks, but both have the potential to be valuable adds for Kansas next season.
Here's more on the two players:
Riley Kugel
Kugel started 28 of the 65 games he played in at Florida, and averaged 9.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. Although he became a regular starter part of the way through his freshman year, and held on to that role early his sophomore year, he came off the bench again as that sophomore season went on. As a freshman, he was honored as one of the Southeastern Conference's best.
Kugel was listed by Florida this past season at 6-foot-5 and 207 pounds. Although his 3-point shooting performance dipped from his freshman to sophomore year, for his career to date he's a 34.2% (69-for-202) shooter from behind the arc over the course of his career. If he can return to the shot-maker he was as a freshman, improve, and especially improve from the free-throw line, that could help Kansas out a lot.
The other three schools Kugel said he's interested in are Arizona, UConn and Houston.
Zeke Mayo
Mayo is a Lawrence, Kansas native, which makes the 6-foot-4 and 185pound talent ever the more likely to garner interest from those locally. He went to South Dakota State, and while there has earned All-Summit League recognition multiple times. Over the course of his career there, which includes 87 starts in 102 appearances, he averaged 15.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.
Mayo would, of course, have to be able to handle the transition to facing more high-profile competition night after night. But something that shouldn't be overlooked is the fact he'd be coming from a South Dakota State program that's enjoyed a lot of success in the Summit League in recent years. During his career, the team has won both the conference regular season and tournament titles twice, and reached a pair of NCAA tournaments.
The other three schools Mayo said he's interested in are Creighton, Oklahoma and Texas.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka CapitalJournal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.