A day after the Kansas men’s basketball team landed 7-foot-1 center transfer portal prize Hunter Dickinson, the Jayhawks seemingly are losing one of their young post players.
Zuby Ejiofor — a 6-foot-9 forward from Garland, Texas who just completed his freshman season — has put his name into the transfer portal, the Rivals Jayhawk Slant website reported on Thursday, citing an announcement by Ejiofor’s mentor.
Ejiofor came to KU out of the Houston area as a top 50 to top 75 recruit, according to various recruiting services and was a big time scorer and rebounder in Texas high school basketball. During his first year at KU, he saw limited playing time, logging 127 minutes over 25 games.
But he showed flashes as a Jayhawk. His best game for KU game in December against Indiana, where he booked 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in 12 minutes of action.
Ejiofor, though, found himself behind both KJ Adams, Jr. and Ernest Udeh, Jr. in playing time. With the arrival of Michigan transfer and All Big Ten performer Dickinson, minutes for Eijiofor likely were going to be harder to find in the upcoming season.
There are also multiple media reports that KU is losing a young guard to the transfer portal. Kyle Cuffe Jr. put his name into the transfer portal earlier this week, according to multiple reports.
Cuffe is a 6-foot-2 guard from Harlem, New York who had his redshirt freshman season cut short by a knee injury. Cuffe only played six minutes in two early season games before his season ended with torn knee ligaments.
Cuffe came to KU as four-star recruit who played his high school basketball for powerhouse Blair Academy in New Jersey.
Ejiofor and Cuffe’s decisions now bring to seven the number of KU basketball players who have entered the transfer portal. Others and their new schools are: Bobby Pettiford (East Carolina); MJ Rice (North Carolina State); Joseph Yesufu (Washington State); Zach Clemence (Santa Barbara); and Cam Martin (Boise State.)
Despite the large number of players leaving, KU is being ranked by many recruiting experts as the big winner in the offseason transfer portal. Dickinson’s decision was the key win for the Jayhawks, as the center averaged 18.5 points, 9 rebounds, and 1.8 blocked shots per game last season for Michigan.
KU also has added Texas transfer guard Arterio Morris and Towson guard Nick Timberlake via the portal.
In other recruiting news, KU remains very much in the hunt for Mackenzie Mgbako, who isn’t in the transfer portal but will be a true freshman next season. The 6-foot-8 forward from New Jersey was once a top signee for Duke but recently got released from his letter of intent.
Mgbako is reportedly visiting Indiana University this weekend on an official recruiting trip. Indiana is expected to be KU’s top competition for the highly-ranked Mgbako.
Nick Krug
