Why new Wichita State recruit Kenyon Giles wanted to play for Paul Mills
Kenyon Giles is ready to join the list of 6-foot-and-under guards who have excelled for coach Paul Mills.
The 5-foot-9 scoring dynamo from UNC Greensboro officially committed to the Wichita State men’s basketball team at the conclusion of his official visit with the Shockers on Friday. The news was officially announced on Saturday when the Chesapeake, Virginia native was on his way home.
“For my last year, I wanted to max out and be the best me,” Giles told The Eagle. “Paul Mills has coached multiple guys like me. Some of my favorite point guards are guys like Max Abmas and Pierre Jackson. He’s coached those types of guys before, so it’s super exciting for me to be able to play for a coach like Paul Mills who has had success with guards like me.”
Giles may be tiny, but he packs a mighty scoring punch. He averaged 15.3 points and earned first team all-Southern Conference honors this past season at UNC Greensboro, doing so on tremendous efficiency (118.4 offensive rating) given his heavy workload on offense.
He will have to prove himself at the American Athletic Conference level, but Shocker fans will rejoice when seeing his 3-point numbers after watching WSU struggle so heavily beyond the arc in recent seasons.
Giles made 40.2% of his 3-pointers on 6.6 attempts per game, which brings in the parallels between fellow short guards who have excelled under Mills in Abmas, who played at Oral Roberts from 2019-23, and Jackson, who played at Baylor from 2011-13.
On his visit to WSU on Friday, Giles said Mills had plenty of clips showing his barrage of catch-and-shoot triples this past season at UNC Greensboro and how that could translate with the Shockers. He enjoyed a stunning 10% increase in 3-point accuracy on similar heavy volume compared to his 2023-24 season at Radford, where he played his first two years in college.
“I just put the work in, but it was mainly about finding the right system,” said Giles, who has one year of eligibility remaining. “I’ve always been able to shoot the ball, but UNCG really talked to me about shooting easier 3s and preached about shooting the catch-and-shoot 3s more than trying to do it off the dribble. It made my game simpler and it worked.”
Since Giles entered the transfer portal at the end of last month, there hasn’t been much public news about his recruiting. That was intentional.
After going through the portal recruiting process last offseason, Giles wanted to be deliberate about how he approached the process this time around. Mills made an early impression on him, and with the help of assistant coach Xavier Holland, WSU managed to coordinate the first official visit with Giles.
“I heard a lot of good things about coach Mills, so I wanted to go there and meet with the rest of the coaching staff,” Giles said. “Their vibe was perfect. My mom loved them and that was important to me that my mom loved the coaching staff.
“I had a good feeling and I wanted to make sure that feeling was genuine when I got there. And it was genuine.”
Giles won’t be the only smaller guard on WSU’s roster next season, as he joins Barton Community College signee Keandre Kindell, a 6-foot point guard who averaged 15.8 points and 5.1 assists this past season while earning honorable mention NJCAA Division I All-American honors.
He also won’t be the only former SoCon player on the Shockers next season, as East Tennessee State defender Karon Boyd, the reigning SoCon Defensive Player of the Year, became the first player to sign with WSU out of the transfer portal last week. Mills also has an incoming freshmen class that features three high school signees in Pierre Couisnard Jr., Noah Hill and Tyrus Rathan-Mayes.
If WSU plans to maximize the 15-player roster limit for next season, then the Shockers have five spots remaining.
This story was originally published April 12, 2025 at 1:48 PM.
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