Miami transfer Harlond Beverly is 2nd portal target to commit to Wichita State basketball
Recruiting news is to starting to heat up for the Wichita State men’s basketball team under first-year coach Paul Mills.
The Shockers landed their second player from the NCAA transfer portal on Tuesday, as Miami transfer Harlond Beverly, a 6-foot-6 wing with two year of eligibility remaining, announced his commitment to Wichita State on Tuesday afternoon.
Beverly, who goes by “H,” joins UTSA transfer Jacob Germany, a 6-foot-11 center with one year of eligibility left, as the first two commitments in Mills’ 2023 recruiting class at WSU, which currently has five scholarships remaining to fill out the roster. WSU assistant coach Quincy Acy spearheaded Beverly’s quick recruitment after entering the transfer portal on Monday.
The native of Farmington Hills, Mich., a Detroit suburb, transferred to play his senior year of high school at Montverde Academy, where he shot up the recruiting rankings, became a consensus four-star prospect and was rated as highly as the No. 42 recruit in the country by Rivals. He picked Miami over Michigan State, Georgia, Indiana and Kansas at the time.
Beverly had an encouraging start to his career at Miami, averaging 7.2 points as a true freshman and then 6.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.5 steals as a starter in the 2020-21 season. But a lingering back injury prevented him from playing the final month of his sophomore season, then ultimately forced him to miss all but four games of his junior year to have back surgery.
After undergoing the back surgery procedure on Jan. 11, 2022, Beverly returned to the court this season to play a reserve role on a Miami team that reached the Final Four and finished with a 29-8 record. He averaged 3.5 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 12.2 minutes per game. He did score seven points in Miami’s Final Four game against Connecticut.
It’s a clear upside swing for the Shockers, betting that Beverly’s athleticism and burst will return to form the longer he is removed from the surgery date. He showed promising signs this past season at Miami, logging his best shooting season with percentages of 46.5% from the field, 31.7% on three-pointers and 80% on free throws.
He is considered an above-average defender on the perimeter with the length to disrupt smaller guards on the point of attack and the size to defend larger players on the wing. He also had great success this past season at Miami slashing to the rim, where he shot 68% to make up the bulk of his scoring.
Beverly told The Eagle that he is in the process of applying for a medical hardship waiver for missing the majority of the 2021-22 season, which would give him two years of eligibility with the Shockers.
This story was originally published April 11, 2023 at 2:17 PM.
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