Former Iowa State point guard Tyrese Hunter, the 2022 Big 12 men’s basketball freshman of the year, is scheduled to make an official recruiting visit to Kansas on Tuesday and Wednesday, a source close to the situation confirmed to The Star on Monday afternoon.
Recruiting services 247sports.com and Rivals..com cited sources Monday morning indicating Hunter, who entered his name in the transfer portal on April 18, would make KU his fifth and final official campus visit.
The 6-foot, 178-pound native of Racine, Wisconsin, visited Texas last weekend and has also made recruiting trips to Tennessee, Purdue and Gonzaga. Louisville is also on his list of transfer possibilities.
Ranked No. 35 in the recruiting Class of 2021 by Rivals.com and No. 39 by ESPN.com, Hunter averaged 11.0 points a game on 39.1% shooting for (22-13) Iowa State, which advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Hunter hit 37 of 135 three-point shots for 27.4%. He hit 68.7% of his free throws and dished 172 assists (4.9 per game) to 113 turnovers with 71 steals in 35 games. He also averaged 3.5 rebounds per contest.
Hunter hit seven three-pointers and scored 23 points in Iowa State’s 59-54 win over LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Also, he had 13 points, seven assists and three steals in the Sweet 16 loss to Miami.
He had 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting (1-of-4 threes) with five assists, five turnovers, five steals and one rebound in KU’s 62-61 victory over ISU on Jan. 11 at Allen Fieldhouse. He had eight points on 3-of-8 shooting with two assists, three turnovers, two steals and two rebounds in KU’s 70-61 win over ISU on Feb. 1 in Ames, Iowa.
Hunter committed to Iowa State in August 2020, when Steve Prohm was head coach. He chose ISU over Florida, Texas Tech, UConn, Georgia and others. He averaged 18.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists as a senior at St. Catherines High School and was a two-time Associated Press all-state selection in Wisconsin.
Two other players in the transfer portal also have KU on their list of schools. Kevin McCullar, a 6-6 guard who has played the last three seasons at Texas Tech, is considering finalists KU and Gonzaga. Isiaih Mosley, a 6-5 guard who played the last three years at Missouri State, made a recent recruiting visit to Mississippi State. He’s also said to be considering Kansas State and Texas Tech.
Schools are allowed 13 scholarship players in accordance with NCAA rules.
The Jayhawks currently have 11 scholarship players on the 2022-23 roster in senior-to-be Cam Martin, juniors-to-be Dajuan Harris and Joseph Yesufu, sophomores-to-be KJ Adams, Zach Clemence and Bobby Pettiford, plus redshirt freshman-to-be Kyle Cuffe and true incoming freshmen Gradey Dick, Zuby Ejiofor, MJ Rice and Ernest Udeh. Christian Braun and Jalen Wilson have entered their names in the NBA Draft pool. They can retain college eligibility if they remove their names from the draft pool by June 1.
Braun is considered a first-round pick by several analysts that run mock drafts. Wilson has yet to be mentioned as a first or second-round pick in any of the mock drafts.
This story was originally published May 16, 2022 5:25 PM.
