Wichita State basketball to host top transfer target Tre King for South Alabama game

Wichita State fans will have a chance to make an impression on a key men’s basketball recruit when the Shockers play South Alabama at 3 p.m. Saturday at Koch Arena.

Tre King, a 6-foot-9, 225-pound transfer from Georgetown, will take an official visit to WSU with his parents on Friday and Saturday, first reported by The Eagle earlier this week.

King played the last three seasons at Eastern Kentucky, where he was voted first team all-conference in the Ohio Valley for 2020-21 season after averaging 14.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.

He is back in the transfer portal after originally transferring to Georgetown back in April. Last month Georgetown announced King was no longer on the roster, citing that he “did not meet the conduct expectations of the University.”

“I made an inadvertent mistake that did not involve another person, but I recognize that it was inconsistent with the student code of conduct,” King wrote in a statement posted on his Twitter.

It didn’t take long after for WSU to reach out because the coaching staff was already familiar with King’s tape at EKU from this summer during their recruitment of EKU point guard Wendell Green, who wound up at Auburn.

King is the ideal big man for the Shockers in the American Athletic Conference. He is a good rebounder, a shot-blocking presence and an emerging three-level scorer. He recently extended his range out to the three-point line, where he made 19 three-pointers in 28 games on 33.9% accuracy last season.

WSU is still awaiting a ruling from the NCAA on whether it can use its 13th scholarship spot on this season’s roster. The decision hinges on the eligibility of Matt McFarlane, who transferred in August to La Salle, where he is sitting out until a ruling is handed down. Even though McFarlane never played a game for WSU, he still currently counts against WSU’s scholarship limit for the 2021-22 roster because he was enrolled in summer classes and received financial aid from WSU.

The Shockers are internally optimistic the NCAA will grant them the scholarship spot and that King, who ESPN rated as the No. 61 top transfer for this season, could potentially join the team for the second semester.

As a fourth-year junior, King could play up to two more seasons at his next stop. He told CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein earlier this week that he also plans to take an official visit to Iowa State. Before committing to Georgetown in April, King was being recruited by Xavier, Virginia Tech, Marquette, Vanderbilt and Georgia, among others.

King and his family will have a front-row seat for another upset-minded low-major team coming to Koch Arena to play the Shockers.

Much like Jacksonville State, which pushed WSU down to the final shot on Tuesday, South Alabama is a low-major program without much program prestige. But what the Jaguars do have is high-major talent — and lots of it.

Coach Richie Riley nearly turned over the entire roster by bringing in eight transfers, including six that played high-major basketball in Jay Jay Chandler (Texas A&M), Tyrell Jones (Auburn), Charles Manning Jr. (LSU), Lance Thomas (Memphis), Javon Franklin (Auburn) and Diante Smith (TCU).

Their only tape is against Division II Spring Hill, which South Alabama crushed, 102-41, on Tuesday. While none of those players averaged more than eight points per game at their previous stop, the collection of talent that was good enough to be recruited in the SEC and Big 12 make South Alabama a wild-card team.

“I think it’s going to be really tough,” Riley said about the WSU road trip after his team’s opening game. “I think pretty tough is an understatement. Wichita State is a national tournament team and one of the toughest venues in the country. It’s a mad house and they have a really good team. It’s going to take a heck of an effort, so we need to get down there and get to work.”

Although the two teams have never played, there is a few Shocker connections to South Alabama: WSU coach Isaac Brown got his start at the Division I level there as an assistant coach under John Pelphrey from 2002-07, while USA’s leading scorer, Chandler, played his first two seasons at Texas A&M for Billy Kennedy, now an assistant at WSU.

After shooting just 4-for-22 on three-pointers in the season-opener, WSU knows it will have to shoot better to avoid another nail-biter like the 60-57 win over Jacksonville State. The Shockers have won 10 straight games at Koch Arena, dating back to last December.

“There are a lot of wrinkles that have to be ironed out,” WSU star Tyson Etienne said after hitting the game-winner on opening night. “You never really get ready for games until you’re in a game. You can practice whatever you want, but the environment you can’t replicate that. We’ve got a bunch of new guys. We have a bunch of new personalities. Things aren’t going to be 100% perfect, so just to have everybody in front of the crowd in a real game, I feel like that was important for us.”

South Alabama at Wichita State basketball preview

When: 3:02 p.m. Saturday

Where: Koch Arena (10,506)

Streaming: ESPN+ (Shane Dennis and Bob Hull)

Radio: 103.7 FM (Mike Kennedy and Dave Dahl)

Tickets: Call 316-978-3267 or visit GoShockers.com/tickets

Series: This is the first meeting

KenPom says: WSU 77, USA 60

Projected starting lineups

South Alabama Jaguars (1-0)

Coach: Richie Riley, fourth season, 55-39

Wichita State Shockers (1-0)

Coach: Isaac Brown, second season, 17-6

This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 6:30 AM.

Taylor Eldridge

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6270

Wichita State athletics beat reporter. Bringing you closer to the Shockers you love and inside the sports you love to watch.