Just several hours after announcing Elmarko Jackson’s likely season-ending injury, Kansas added more depth at the guard position by earning the commitment of Mississippi State transfer Shakeel Moore.
Moore, who will be a fifth-year senior in his final year of eligibility, began his career with one season at NC State before spending three with the Bulldogs. Most recently, he averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists while shooting 36.3% from beyond the arc in his fourth collegiate season.
He revealed his plans to join KU in a post on his Instagram in partnership with On3 on Wednesday afternoon.
Moore is originally from Greensboro, North Carolina, and was a four-star recruit coming out of Moravian Prep. Primarily coming off the bench as a freshman at NC State, he still managed to chip in 6.8 points and 1.4 steals in 18.5 minutes per game.
In general, Moore, who is 6-foot-1 and 190 pounds, has been a well-regarded defender and was on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watchlist as a junior. His Defensive Bayesian Performance Rating from EvanMiya.com was a solid 1.50 during the 2023-24 season, about on par with the now-injured Jackson.
KU now has 12 scholarship slots filled, just one day after Jackson got hurt and two days after head coach Bill Self said he wanted to add one more starting-caliber player to his roster.
In all, Moore has started 68 of his 124 career games between two of the nation’s best conferences.
The question is now whether the Jayhawks plan to go with 11 healthy players for the rest of the season or if they will use the weeks and months ahead to pick up a 12th. That would bring KU to the 13-scholarship limit, meaning it would have to defer the application of its final Independent Accountability Resolution Process scholarship to the 2025-26 roster.
AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis
