Kansas landed its second player from the transfer portal, as Texas guard Arterio Morris committed to the Jayhawks on Friday.
Morris came off the bench last season for the Longhorns and averaged just 4.6 points and 1.4 rebounds in his freshman season. But Morris comes with a lot of accolades on the recruiting trail. He was ranked as the top point guard in the nation by many outlets during the 2022 recruiting season.
At Kansas, though, Morris — who checks in at 6-foot-3 — may end up competing for time at the two-guard spot, as the point guard spot is locked down by team leader Dajuan Harris, Jr.. Multiple analysts are speculating that Morris may compete for time with Elmarko Jackson, a McDonalds All-American and top 25 ESPN recruit who is set to begin his freshman season at KU.
Morris is the second player KU has landed in the transfer portal, and they both have been guards. Earlier this month, 6-foot-4 combo guard Nick Timberlake, who averaged nearly 18 points per game for Towson last season, committed to the Jayhawks. Importantly, he also shot over 41% from three-point territory.
Over the past several weeks, KU coach Bill Self has said Kansas needs to add shooting and size to the roster. With the departures of Jalen Wilson, Gradey Dick, Joe Yesufu and the expected departure of Kevin McCullar Jr., the Jayhawks will be looking to replace 206 of their 251 3-point makes (82%) from last season.
What Morris will bring to the table from deep distance is still an open question. He made three-pointers at a 33% clip for Texas, hitting 29 out of 87 for the Longhorns.
Morris also will bring some off-court issues with him to Lawrence. He was charged with a Class A misdemeanor after a June 2022 altercation with an ex-girlfriend in the Dallas area, ESPN has reported. Through his attorney, Morris has said he is innocent. Morris was allowed to play this past season while awaiting a trial on the domestic violence charge.
In other KU basketball news:
— Add a new name to the list of players that KU is targeting to bring to Lawrence, and he once was slated to wear Duke blue.
Mackenzie Mgbako, a 6-foot-8 forward from New Jersey has added Kansas to his list of schools to visit, now that he has sought a release from his letter of intent to play at Duke in the 2023 season.
Multiple outlets are reporting that Mgbako plans to visit the Jayhawks. National basketball writer Adam Zagoria is reporting that the five-star prospect plans to make his first visit to St. Johns, which recently hired legendary coach Rick Pitino. Zagoria also plans visits to Kansas, Indiana and Louisville.
Mgbako was the highest-rated prospect in Duke’s recruiting class, which was ranked second in the nation by ESPN. Mgbako consistently has been ranked in the top 10 of ESPN’s top 100 rankings of players in the class of 2023.
Mgbako is considered to be a strong shooting prospect, and Zagoria reported that KU Coach Bill Self sees Mgbako as a player who can help replace some of the shooting prowess KU loses from freshman Grady Dick’s decision to enter the NBA draft.
Mgbako averaged 16.3 points and 9.2 rebounds last season for his high school team, Roselle Catholic, in route to picking up All-State honors in New Jersey and winning a state championship.
— KU should learn Saturday evening whether one of the top guard prospects in the transfer portal will be coming to KU. Georgetown transfer Primo Spears is set to announce his transfer destination at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Spears has visited both KU and Florida State. Spears generally is regarded as a four-star prospect in the transfer portal. In his lone season with Georgetown, he scored 16 points per game, and was a 30% shooter from behind the three-point arc. He also was nearly an 80% free throw shooter and added 5.3 assists, 3 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game for a Georgetown team that was woeful.
Of note is that Spears already has transferred twice in his college career, so he will need a waiver from the NCAA in order to be eligible to play in the upcoming season. Otherwise, he’ll need to sit out a season before becoming eligible to play.
— Former KU player Joe Yesufu has found his landing spot in the transfer portal. The guard has committed to play at Washington State. Yesufu averaged 4.1 points, 1.2 rebounds and 0.4 assists while playing in the KU backcourt last season.
247Sports reports that Yesufu has a good chance to play a major role for Washington State, as it is losing leading scorer TJ Bamba through the transfer portal to Villanova. While he wasn’t a primary scorer at KU, Yesufu showed flashes of being a big-time scorer at Drake, where he averaged nearly 13 points a game in he 2020-21 season.
