K-State basketball gets good news on signing day after losing one commit

The Kansas State basketball team received a double dose of good news on the recruiting front Wednesday.

Goodnews Kpegeol, a three-star shooting guard with one of the most unique names in the sport, signed with the Wildcats a few days after making a recruiting trip to Manhattan.

Kpegeol is a 6-foot-5, 180-pound guard who is currently spending a year in prep school at TaylorMade Academy in Pensacola, Fla. He is originally from North St. Paul, Minn., and opted for an extra year of school before college in hopes of improving his recruiting profile. He averaged 11 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists while playing for his AAU team, Grassroots Sizzle, last season.

He chose K-State over Akron, Georgia State, Saint Louis and several other smaller schools.

His decision to sign with K-State, despite never publicly committing to the school, comes at a good time for the Wildcats. Bruce Weber entered signing day with some level of uncertainty after Damerius Wash, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Sunrise Christian Academy located just outside Wichita, withdrew his commitment to K-State late Tuesday night.

K-State only projects to have four available scholarships this recruiting cycle. With Wash no longer in the fold, that opened the door for Weber to recruit and sign a new player. He obviously had someone in mind.

Kpegeol was the first of four basketball recruits expected to sign with K-State on what should be an eventful signing day.

Antonio Gordon was the second.

The 6-8 power forward from Lawton, Okla., who was previously committed to Tulsa, signed Wednesday afternoon. He switched to K-State after making an official visit to campus. Though he lives in Oklahoma, he plays AAU basketball for MoKan Elite in Kansas City.

The Wildcats later made things official with Dajuan Gordon and Montavious Murphy when they signed national letters at their respective high schools. K-State announced all four signings Wednesday evening.

Dajuan Gordon is a 6-foot-3 guard from Chicago. He appears to have immediate impact potential. Rivals rates him as the 144th best high school senior in the nation and the 36th best player at his position. He is a four-star recruit, according to 247Sports. He chose the Wildcats over SMU, DePaul, Mississippi, Nebraska, Tulsa, UAB and Xavier.

Murphy was K-State’s first commit of this class. He is a 6-8 forward from Spring, Texas with enough versatility to play both small forward and power forward when he arrives at K-State. He chose the Wildcats over Texas A&M, Houston, Tulsa and several other smaller schools.

• Two players signed with the K-State women’s team Wednesday: Emma Chapman, a 6-2 forward from Columbia Hickman in Missouri, and Jada Thorpe, a 5-7 guard from Simeon in Chicago.
  
  

This story was originally published November 14, 2018 at 11:35 AM.