Jerome Tang has landed another European basketball recruit for Kansas State Wildcats
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas State adds 7-foot-1 Romanian center Dorin Buca to its international roster.
- Coach Tang now has three European recruits set to join next season's Wildcats team.
- All three foreign recruits bring pro experience and are expected to contribute early.
Here’s a potential new nickname for the Kansas State men’s basketball team: Eurocats.
Head coach Jerome Tang has assembled a roster that will certainly have international flair next season.
The Wildcats landed their third European recruit of the current cycle on Tuesday when Dorin Buca, a 7-foot-1 center from Romania, announced his intentions to play for K-State next season.
Buca is 23 years old. He is expected to have two years of college eligibility in Manhattan. He played in the second division of the Italian professional league for Livorno Libertas last season and he averaged 5.6 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He was also one of the best shot-blockers in his league.
With him on board, K-State will welcome three new foreign players to Bramlage Coliseum.
The Wildcats previously landed Elias Rapieque, a 6-foot-8 and 200-pound forward from Germany, and Andrej Kostic, a 6-foot-5 guard from Serbia, to their recruiting class.
Tang will likely rely on all three of them to contribute right away.
Rapieque and Kostic are already on campus, and K-State has shared videos of both players scoring impressive buckets in practice.
Kostic most recently played for Dynamic Balkan Bet in Serbia and averaged 15.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals in the U18 league. He was also the leader of Serbia’s U18 national team that took the silver medal at the Eurobasket 2024 competition.
Rapieque is not your typical recruit. He is a 21-year old baller who just finished playing 27 games on a professional team overseas. During the 2024-25 season, he averaged 4.2 points and 2.1 rebounds while playing 15 minutes per game in Berlin.
It looks like Buca will soon join them at K-State, and add even more of an international feel to the locker room.
K-State Wildcats basketball roster tracker
Outgoing transfers: Brendan Hausen (Iowa) Ugonna Onyenso (Virginia) Macaleab Rich (UTSA) Baye Fall (Rutgers) Dug McDaniel (Memphis)
Incoming transfers: Abdi Bashir (Monmouth) Khamari McGriff (UNCW) Nate Johnson (Akron) Stephen Osei (Casper College) Marcus Johnson (Bowling Green) PJ Haggerty (Memphis)
High school recruits: Exavier Wilson
International recruits: Andrej Kostic of Serbia Elias Rapieque of Germany Dorin Buca of Romania
Returners: Mobi Ikegwuruka Taj Manning David Castillo CJ Jones Tyreek Smith* *Player is seeking a waiver to gain extra eligibility