The Kansas men’s basketball team’s frontcourt is starting to take shape for the 2026-27 season following the commitment of Christian Reeves.
Reeves, a 7-foot-2, 255-pound fifth-year senior center, made his decision public on social media on Friday evening in a collaborative Instagram post with ESPN. He was a third-team all-conference selection at Charleston following the 2025-26 campaign after previously playing at Duke and Clemson earlier in his career.
Reeves is KU’s third transfer acquisition after forward Keanu Dawes (Utah) and guard Leroy Blyden Jr. (Toledo). He figures to compete with returning 7-footer Paul Mbiya for playing time at center next season.
A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Reeves was a four-star prospect in the class of 2022 out of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, who chose Duke over Minnesota and South Carolina. As a freshman, he played sparingly in 13 games for a total of 41 minutes.
Reeves appeared for 13 minutes in his first game of the 2023-24 season alone, but he only played twice more before suffering an injury that eventually required surgery on his right ankle. That season resulted in a medical redshirt.
He transferred to Clemson the following year and as a redshirt sophomore earned the first significant role of his career. In 29 games with one start, he averaged 1.2 points and 1.5 rebounds on 50% shooting. The lone start came against Cal on Jan. 4, 2025, and he garnered eight minutes with four points and three rebounds.
His breakout year came when he moved to the mid-major level in the Coastal Athletic Association for Charleston, which went 21-11 and 14-4 in league play but lost in the first round of its league tournament. Along the way, Reeves played in 31 games and started 18. He averaged 11.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks while shooting 65.4% from the field. Reeves’ top performance came against Elon on Jan. 24 when he racked up a whopping 29 points on 11-for-12 shooting with 18 rebounds. That was one of his eight double-doubles on the year, as he generally became more productive and earned greater playing time over the course of the season.
Now he’ll head to his fourth school in five seasons.
What is not totally clear is whether KU is done at the center position. Besides Mbiya and Reeves, Dawes can also potentially play in the middle. The Jayhawks were supposed to get a visit from 7-foot-5 USC center Gabe Dynes, who has a long list of suitors, on Sunday, but On3 has reported that Louisville is the frontrunner for his services (and Kentucky is the other option).
