Jan 18, 2020

Ezeague signs scholarship agreement to join K-State's men's basketball team

Posted Jan 18, 2020 2:59 PM
Kaosi Ezeagu
Kaosi Ezeagu

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber announced on Friday (January 17) that transfer forward Kaosi Ezeagu (Brampton, Ontario/GTA Prep/UTEP) has signed a scholarship agreement to join the men’s basketball team. He will have three years of eligibility once he sits out the required time as a Division I transfer.

A 6-foot-10, 245-pound transfer from UTEP, Ezeagu will enroll at K-State for the spring semester and will be able to start practicing with the team. He will have to sit out for the reminder of the 2019-20 season and the first semester of the 2020-21 season before being eligible in mid-December 2020.   

“We are excited to add Kaosi to program,” said Weber. “We felt like we needed an older, experienced big guy that has played Division I basketball to help our team in 2020-21. Obviously, we have Levi (Stockard III) back as a senior and we are very excited about (incoming freshman) Davion (Bradford, but we felt like we needed more experience. It allows us to have a guy that played quite a bit as a freshman and started at UTEP. He got started in basketball late and we feel he has a lot of upside. He has good physical ability and plays really hard. On top of all of that, he is an outstanding young man. He is a really good quality student from an outstanding family.”

A 6-foot-10, 245-pound sophomore forward from Brampton, Ontario, Ezeagu played one season at UTEP for head coach Rodney Terry in 2018-19. He played in all 29 games for the Miners as a true freshman, averaging 3.2 points on a team-best 56.9 percent shooting (37-of-65) with 3.4 rebounds and 0.8 blocks in 12.4 minutes per game. He led the team with 24 blocked shots and registered at least 2 blocks in eight contests with a season-high 3 against Rice on Feb. 23, 2019. Twice he scored in double figures, including 10 in his first game against UTPB on Nov. 16, 2018 and a season-best 12 against Middle Tennessee State on March 6, 2019.

Ezeagu started each of the team’s last seven games, averaging 3.9 points on 47.8 percent shooting (11-of-23) with 4.3 rebounds in 17.3 minutes per game. He nearly had a double-double in his final home game against Middle Tennessee State with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting with 9 rebounds in a season-best 29 minutes.

Ezeagu was born in the Bahamas but went to prep school in Brampton, Ontario (a suburb of Toronto, where he was rated one of the top prep players in Canada after averaging 11.4 points and 10.4 rebounds at GTA Prep at Mississauga Secondary School in 2017-18. The only player in the league to average a double-double, he was named the Defensive Player of the Year by the National Preparatory Association. He was also selected as the co-MVP of the Signature All-Canadian Showcase.

Ezeagu joins an acclaimed recruiting class that includes high school seniors Davion Bradford (St. Louis, Mo./Mehlville)Luke Kasubke (St. Louis, Mo./Chaminade)Selton Miguel (Orlando, Fla./West Oaks Academy) and Nijel Pack (Indianapolis, Ind./Lawrence Central).

The four-man recruiting class is a consensus Top 25 class nationally by several recruiting services, ranking No. 21 by 247Sports.com and No. 23 by Rivals.com. Historically speaking, it is the highest rated recruiting class under Weber and the highest collective class by K-State since recruiting rankings have been kept. All four high school players are rated among the Top 200 players nationally, while each is a member of the Rivals150.

All four seniors are off to good starts to their final prep seasons in 2019-20. Miguel is averaging a team-best 21.5 points for West Oaks Academy to go with 5.1 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 2.0 steals per game. Pack has Lawrence Central High School off to a 14-1 mark with a team-leading 19.1 points, 4.4 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game. Kasubke is averaging a team-best 15.8 points for Chaminade High School to go with 4.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Bradford is averaging a double-double for Mehlville High School with 14.5 points on 70 percent shooting with 10.2 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

--www.kstatesports.com--

TOM GILBERT Director for Men’s Basketball Communications | K-State AthleticsMen’s Basketball Contact |