Wichita State basketball taps Houston pipeline with latest recruiting commitment
The Houston pipeline to the Wichita State men’s basketball team continues to strengthen under coach Paul Mills.
For the second straight recruiting class, Mills landed a highly-rated prospect from former Shocker star P.J. Couisnard’s AAU program in Houston on Wednesday when three-star wing Tyrus Rathan-Mayes announced his commitment to Wichita State. Rathan-Mayes, a 6-foot-6 wing, is rated No. 168 nationally in the class of 2025 rankings by 247Sports.
Mills, a Houston native himself, also signed a pair of Houston natives in his 2024 recruiting class in three-star point guard Zion Pipkin, who played for Couisnard and is already turning heads this summer in Wichita, and senior point guard Justin Hill, who is expected to lead the team this upcoming season. Both players consider Couisnard a mentor to them.
“I built my whole program on family and we do everything like a family,” Couisnard said. “I think what (WSU) does a great job of is having that same type of culture up there. Zion’s mom fell in love with the coaches and the families and so did Tyrus’ mom. Coach (Mills) and (WSU assistant coach Kenton Paulino) do a great job recruiting and they just out-work other staffs.”
Rathan-Mayes took an unofficial visit to WSU in late June, then followed it up with an official visit to Koch Arena last week during the first week of the fall recruiting period.
He committed to WSU less than a week following his official visit, choosing the Shockers over schools like Arizona State and Nevada who were in pursuit. Rathan-Mayes also had Texas Tech, Boston College, LSU and Oklahoma State express interest in the recruiting process.
“When you go into these types of visits, you’ve got boxes that you need to check about things you are looking for,” Rathan-Mayes told The Eagle. “Wichita State checked all of those boxes. Overall, it was just a great surrounding, a great weight room, some great facilities, great trainers. Everything that you would need to be successful.”
He also checked in with Pipkin, a former teammate of his briefly last summer on Cooz Elite, about the WSU experience under Mills and his staff.
“It’s always a positive when you know a guy on the inside, so you can ask about what’s truly going on,” Rathan-Mayes said.
Rathan-Mayes is the son of Tharon Mayes, who enjoyed a successful professional basketball career with a brief stint in the NBA, and the younger brother of former Florida State star Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who currently plays in the EuroLeague.
A native of Toronto, Rathan-Mayes played for Canada in the FIBA Under-18 AmeriCup in Argentina earlier this summer. He moved to the Houston area for the start of his high school basketball career and will play his senior year for Couisnard at Legacy School of Sport Sciences, which will play at Sunrise Christian Academy on November 16.
The biggest surprise on Rathan-Mayes’ official visit to WSU was his measurements. After a three-inch growth spurt, he now stands 6-6 and will play at 6-7 in shoes on the court. He also measured in with a 7-foot wingspan, which makes for tantalizing defensive upside.
“He made our summer team so good because people would key in on him as a scorer, but he really is a great passer,” Couisnard said. “He can score it, rebound it, defend it, really just a versatile player. He played point guard for Canada, but he can play the 1, 2, 3 or 4 because he’s such a good defender and rebounder and high-IQ guy.”
Playing alongside other talented players this summer for Cooz Elite in Puma’s Pro16 League, Rathan-Mayes displayed his ability to embrace a role on a winning team. He was known mostly as a ball-handler with some scoring pop before his growth spurt, but now the added length has allowed Rathan-Mayes to flourish as a play-maker, rebounder and defender.
He plans to bring that versatility to the Shockers.
“Honestly, the most important thing I care about is just winning games,” Rathan-Mayes said. “Whatever I have to do to make the right play and put my team in the best position to win. If one night that means I’ve got to guard a 4-man, then that’s what I’ll do. If the next night that means I’ve got to put some length on a small guard, that’s what I’ll do. Anything to help my team win the game.”
This story was originally published September 12, 2024 at 6:03 AM.
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