Coming home: South Dakota State transfer and Lawrence native Zeke Mayo commits to Kansas basketball

Bill Self and the Kansas coaching staff landed a major commitment from the transfer portal Tuesday night in the form of South Dakota State shooting guard Zeke Mayo.

Mayo – a Lawrence native who grew up cheering for the Jayhawks – chose KU over interest from Oklahoma, Texas, and Creighton. He is ranked as the No. 12 transfer prospect in the country according to 247sports.com.

The 6-foot-4 Mayo was one of the top priorities for the Kansas coaching staff once he announced his intentions to transfer.

This past season at South Dakota State where he was named Summit League Player of the Year, Mayo averaged 18.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 46.6% from the field.

Mayo is an excellent three-point shooting threat as well (he shot 39.1% from deep this past season). He’s also a career 87% free throw shooter.

It’s hard not to be excited when you look at some of his tape. He’s got a great shooting stroke, and the ability to create for himself will complement Dajuan Harris and Hunter Dickinson (if he returns) incredibly well in this offense.

This truly feels like a big missing piece has been added to this Kansas roster.

Pairing Mayo alongside Harris in the starting lineup to go with KJ Adams and perhaps Dickinson gives KU a lethal starting five, even without knowing who that fifth starter may be.

That scoring threat from the two-guard spot was desperately missing with this year’s Kansas team. With Mayo on board, that is now a position of strength, and KU all of a sudden has a team that (on paper) looks as if they should be a top-10 team heading into next season.

Mayo’s commitment, along with Florida transfer Riley Kugel, gives KU the No. 1 ranked transfer recruiting class in the country according to 247sports.

With the talented freshman recruiting class also coming in, it’s hard not to be excited about the potential of this 2024-25 Kansas basketball team – one that should once again have real national championship aspirations.