Kansas State basketball doubles up by landing coveted Samford big man Achor Achor
MANHATTAN — The hits kept coming Thursday for Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang.
Mere hours after landing promising junior college forward Chimobi Ikegwuruka, the Wildcats struck gold in the transfer portal by landing coveted big man Achor Achor from Samford.
The 6-foot-9, 227-pound Achor, who is coming off a breakout senior season, was one of the top remaining big men in the portal. More importantly, he fills in a missing piece on a Wildcat roster loaded with guards but not much size.
Achor, from Melbourne, Australia, came into his own in 2023-24, his second season at Samford, by starting all 33 games and averaging 16.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He shot 58.6%, including 43.5% on 62 3-point attempts.
Achor started his career at Chipola College in Florida, where he helped the Indians to two NJCAA Tournament Final Four appearances. In his first season at Samford, he started just once in 30 games and averaged a modest 6.1 points and 3.5 rebounds.
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Achor is the seventh transfer to sign with the Wildcats, bringing the roster to 11 players with just two spots to fill. He also provides the Wildcats with the veteran big man they desperately needed to go with returning super-senior David N'Guessan.
The only other post player on the roster is 6-11, Arkansas transfer Baye Fall, a 2023 McDonald's All-American who appeared in just nine games as a freshman for the Razorbacks.
Ikegwuruka, who committed earlier Thursday, also gives them an inside presence at 6-6 while averaging 19 points and 10.3 rebounds as a redshirt freshman second team All-American at Ellsworth (Iowa) Community College.
It has been a busy offseason for Tang and his staff, which returns just three players — N'Guessan and freshmen forwards Taj Manning and Macaleab Rich — from last year's team that went 19-15 and lost in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament. In addition to Achor, Ikegwuruka and Fall, the Wildcats have signed former Michigan point guard Dug McDaniel, Illinois-Chicago guard CJ Jones, Villanova guard Brendan Hausen and Cal State Fullerton guard Max Jones.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball nabs veteran big man Achor Achor from portal
