After one year at Wichita State, Corey Washington plans to enter transfer portal
It appears Wichita State men’s basketball coach Paul Mills will be working from essentially a clean slate for his third season at the helm.
Starting forward Corey Washington, the last key piece from last season’s team, is planning on entering the NCAA transfer portal on Tuesday, he confirmed to The Eagle.
Washington, a 6-foot-6 forward with one year of eligibility remaining, flourished in his one season with the Shockers, averaging 13.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.8 blocks per game while drilling a career-high 26 3-pointers on a career-best 34.7% accuracy. He made 33 starts and finished second on the team in scoring, rebounding and steals while logging nine double-doubles and ultimately earned second team all-conference honors in the American Athletic Conference.
Of the two key pieces eligible to return next season, WSU has now lost both starters to the transfer portal in center Quincy Ballard and Washington. A source close to each situation told The Eagle that the expectation is for both players to find new homes this offseason.
It took Washington more than a week after the portal officially opened to enter his name, but his decision on Tuesday coincided with the announcement he had signed with Always On Sports Agency. Coincidentally, one of his agents, Ryan Straining, also represents former Shocker Craig Porter Jr. in the NBA.
Washington’s high-motor play often helped spark the Shockers and made him a fan favorite in his lone season in Wichita. On top of that relentless effort, Washington displayed drastic improvement in his 3-point shot for the Shockers, which should make him a commodity in the transfer portal.
With Ballard, Washington and sophomore wing Yanis Bamba in the transfer portal, combined with seven graduating seniors, WSU has lost 98.6% of its scoring production from last season’s 19-15 squad. The lone scholarship players set to return are junior wing Joy Ighovodja, sophomore point guard Zion Pipkin and redshirt freshman wing T.J. Williams.
A hard reset isn’t totally unfamiliar to Shocker fans, as the 2018-19 team only brought back 11.1% of its minutes from the previous season and finished 22-15 with a trip to the NIT semifinals. The 2022-23 team only returned 18.8% of its minutes from the prior year and finished with a 17-15 record in coach Isaac Brown’s final season.
Washington is the first key player recruited by head coach Paul Mills to leave in the transfer portal. WSU has been no stranger to starters leaving — an all-too-familiar trend for every Division-I team — but every key player who exited before Washington had been recruited by the previous coaching staff.
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 5:52 PM.
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