Transfer Jaron Pierre wants to bring ‘New Orleans flavor’ to Wichita State basketball
When Jaron Pierre Jr. learned more about the culture and tradition of the Wichita State men’s basketball team on his official visit last month, he was sold.
The blue-collar, chip-on-the-shoulder mentality of the Shockers perfectly aligns with what type of basketball player he has become and what he plans to bring to Wichita State next season.
“I’m going to bring some New Orleans flavor to Wichita,” Pierre told The Eagle on Monday, two days after committing to WSU. “You can expect me to play hard, be gritty, play with a chip on my shoulder. I liked that about (WSU). They’ve got a reason behind it. And I’ve got a reason why I go so hard in between those lines.”
Pierre is a 6-foot-4 sophomore guard who averaged 9.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.4 assists last season for Southern Miss and also earned Conference USA All-Freshman honors in the 2020-21 season after he averaged 8.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals.
He is one of six players WSU head coach Isaac Brown has plucked from the NCAA transfer portal, joining senior big man James Rojas (Alabama), senior forward Gus Okafor (Southeastern Louisiana), junior sharpshooter Colby Rogers (Siena), sophomore guard Xavier Bell (Drexel) and sophomore center Quincy Ballard (Florida State). WSU’s lone high school signee is Jacob Wilson, leaving the Shockers up to two scholarships available to fill out their 2022 recruiting class.
Wichita State was the first and only official visit Pierre took during his stint in the transfer portal, although he said he was receiving interest from Mississippi State, Tulane and Murray State. Despite sharing a last name with WSU first-year assistant coach Butch Pierre, the two share no relation.
“I was looking for a place where I could call home, a better situation for me and I feel like I found that at Wichita State,” Pierre said. “It felt like home to me. Coach Brown was real with me the whole time and that’s why I wanted to take this chance with him and now see what we can do together.
“I really liked that he spent most of the time with me on the visit. If the head coach is spending most of his time with you, that tells you something right there.”
Pierre is likely to play on the wing at WSU, either at shooting guard or small forward, where he likes to use his athleticism and length to create shots off the dribble. His bread-and-butter last season at Southern Miss was looking for his jumper in the pick-and-roll game, scoring 1.14 points per possession and shooting 44.6% on dribble jumpers, per Synergy, which should be a natural fit for Brown’s pick-and-roll offense.
Where he can most improve his game right away is his efficiency, which still seems to be a work in progress, understandable for a natural scorer relatively early in his Division I career. Heavy doses of dribble jumpers, which are inherently less efficient, combined with poor finishing numbers around the basket led to a 34.2% shooting percentage from the field last season. He is also a career 33.5% three-point shooter on 5.3 attempts per game, but that number jumps to 35.7% on catch-and-shoot attempts and 38.6% on catch-and-shoot attempts from the wing, which indicates he has room for growth with a better shot diet.
“I think it’s going to be a natural fit for me,” Pierre said. “I like that Wichita State is a basketball school. And I like that they’ve got some bigs in there, which should make it easier in the pick-and-roll. It’s a good conference, some good teams in there. I know what I can do and I know I can perform on that stage.”
This story was originally published May 3, 2022 at 7:12 AM.
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