Kansas State basketball lands Arkansas big man, a former McDonald's All-American
MANHATTAN — Kansas State basketball has landed an Arkansas transfer, even if it wasn't the one that topped the Wildcats' list.
Baye Fall, a 6-foot-11, 215-pound center and 2023 McDonald's All-American, committed to K-State on Saturday during a weekend recruiting visit to Manhattan, according to On3 college basketball reporter Joe Tipton.
Fall, who appeared in only nine games for Arkansas as a freshman this past season, was one of two former Razorbacks to visit over the past week. The Wildcats also are pursuing graduate transfer shooting guard Khalif Battle.
Fall, originally from Dakar, Senegal, was highly recruited out of Accelerated Schools in Denver, but played sparingly at Arkansas. He played just 44 minutes, averaging 0.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocked shots and did not appear in a game after Feb. 17.
But Fall, who despite his limited college experience comes with a high upside, gives K-State a much needed rim protector on defense after losing centers Jerrell Colbert (transfer) and Will McNair (graduation) from last year's team. He averaged 13.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks as a high school senior.
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Fall is the Wildcats' fourth transfer portal addition and the second in the past week, joining former Villanova shooting guard Brendan Hausen who signed on Friday. Earlier coach Jerome Tang signed Michigan point guard Dug McDaniel and Illinois-Chicago shooting guard CJ Jones.
While Fall is the lone big man to sign so far, K-State did have veteran Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi in town for a recruiting visit this week. The 6-11, 240-pound Omoruyi, who also has visited Georgetown and was at Alabama this weekend, averaged 10.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks as a senior for the Scarlet Knights.
Tang said last week that he hoped to have his core roster in place shortly, but there is still some work to do. The Wildcats have at least four spots to fill, and that is if forward Arthur Kaluma returns after declaring for the NBA draft and forward David N'Guessan chooses to stick around as a fifth-year super-senior.
In the past week, K-State lost freshman guard RJ Jones and super-senior guard Ques Glover to the portal. Glover suffered a knee injury and never played for the Wildcats after transferring from Samford.
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 gets commitment from former Arkansas big man
