Basketball
Kansas State basketball lands Kentucky 7-footer Ugonna Onyenso via transfer portal
Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang talks about recruiting
Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang talks about recruiting during a Catbacker Tour event last month in Manhattan.
MANHATTAN — Kansas State basketball took one step closer to a full roster Tuesday by adding a 7-foot rim protector.
Ugonna Onyenso, who spent the past two seasons at Kentucky, has signed with the Wildcats after withdrawing his name last month from the NBA Draft.
The addition of Onyenso pushes K-State’s roster to 12 players with one scholarship remaining to give. He gives the Wildcats a proven defensive force on the interior after averaging 2.75 blocked shots as a sophomore.
Onyenso, a consensus top-25 high school prospect in 2023 before reclassifying to the Class of 2022, played in 16 games as a freshman for Kentucky. But his playing time increased last season when he averaged 18.7 minutes, 3.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 24 appearances while starting the last 14 games.
Onyenso, a native of Nigeria, chose K-State over interest from North Carolina, Mississippi State and Oregon.
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It was a big pickup for K-State coach Jerome Tang, who now has added three legitimate big men to go with a slew of guards through the transfer portal. Last month the Wildcats signed versatile 6-9 Samford forward Achor Achor, to go with 6-11 forward Baye Fall from Arkansas, not to mention athletic 6-6 junior college forward Chimobi Ikegwaruka.
The Wildcats also return forwards David N’Guessan, Taj Manning and Macaleab Rich from last year’s 19-15 team.
K-State also should be well set in the backcourt with Michigan transfer Dug Jones, Illinois-Chicago transfer CJ Jones, Villanova transfer Brendan Hausen and Max Jones from Cal State Fullerton. Four-star point guard David Castillo is the lone high school recruit.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
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