Morris Udeze becomes sixth scholarship player who’ll transfer from WSU basketball
Sophomore center Morris Udeze became the sixth scholarship player on the Wichita State men’s basketball team to make transfer plans since the end of the season. Stockrisers.com first reported the news on Thursday.
With the graduation of WSU’s starting center Jaime Echenique, Udeze, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound bulldozer from Houston, was in line to contend for the starting job next season. Instead, he joins classmates Jamarius Burton and Erik Stevenson and a trio of freshmen in Grant Sherfield, Noah Fernandes and DeAntoni Gordon as those exiting the program.
Udeze played in 28 games this past season, including five starts, with averages of 4.3 points and 2.8 rebounds in 10.5 minutes per game. He averaged 3.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 12.6 minutes per game as a freshman before a shoulder injury ended his season halfway through.
While Udeze didn’t have the consistent minutes this season, he still figured to be part of a three-man rotation at center next season for the Shockers. Burton, Stevenson and Sherfield were already playing at least 24 minutes per game for WSU this season and decided to transfer as well.
WSU coach Gregg Marshall addressed the mass transfers in an exclusive interview with The Eagle on Wednesday before Udeze left.
“Of course you don’t want to see that many guys leave at once, but you also don’t want to see that many guys stay that are unhappy with their role,” Marshall said. “You’re saying those guys played 24 minutes a game, but what I’m telling you is that’s not enough. They weren’t pleased with that. My job is to try to win and their job is to try to play as much as they can.”
Also Wednesday night, Marshall could not say definitively that every player remaining on WSU’s roster would return.
After Udeze’s departure, WSU has now lost half of its returning roster for next season. Only six returners remain in Trey Wade (senior), Asbjorn Midtgaard (senior), Dexter Dennis (junior), Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (junior), Tyson Etienne (sophomore) and Josaphat Bilau (redshirt freshman) with 2020 recruit JaDun Michael signed to a letter of intent.
This story was originally published March 19, 2020 at 12:24 PM.
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