Wichita State basketball to host two veteran guards on recruiting official visits
It’s clear the Wichita State men’s basketball team has made upgrading its backcourt a recruiting priority this transfer portal season.
This coming weekend could be an important one toward accomplishing that goal, as Wichita State will host Georgia point guard Justin Hill and Lipscomb shooting guard AJ McGinnis on official visits in Wichita beginning Friday, according to sources familiar with the situation.
WSU head coach Paul Mills currently has four scholarships remaining in his 2024 recruiting class with a focus on improving the team’s ball-handling, shooting and playmaking at the guard positions.
Wichita State earned the first official visit from Hill, a fifth-year player who entered the transfer portal on Monday after two seasons at Georgia. The 6-foot point guard started a total of 13 games the past two seasons for the Bulldogs, averaging 9.1 points and 3.1 assists in 23.2 minutes against SEC competition while shooting 31.9% on 3-pointers and 74.8% on free throws.
WSU is looking for more of a scoring threat to make its pick-and-roll offense more effective and Hill fits the bill. He ranked in the 72nd percentile as a pick-and-roll scorer, per Synergy, and also scored 1.09 points per possession on catch-and-shoot attempts, which ranked in the 69th percentile.
Hill began his college career at Longwood, where he experienced a breakout sophomore season where he averaged 14.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.5 steals; he shot 34.3% on 3-pointers and 79.7% from the foul line. Hill thrived in a lead-initiator role that helped lead Longwood to two Big South championships and an NCAA Tournament berth.
Hill is a former prep star from Houston, a recruiting hub that Mills, a Houston native himself, is plenty familiar with. WSU also has Texas ties in assistants Quincy Acy, a Texas native himself, and Kenton Paulino, a former star player for the Longhorns. Hill told 247HSHoops that he had heard from LSU, Virginia Tech, Louisville, North Texas, VCU and UAB since entering the portal.
With sharpshooter Colby Rogers likely gone in the transfer portal, WSU desperately needs to add shooting for next season, and McGinnis offers exactly that with plenty of experience. He’s a fifth-year veteran with a little more size (6-foot-4) and has knocked down 175 career 3-pointers in 101 games on 38.3% accuracy.
McGinnis is coming off his best season yet at Lipscomb, where he averaged 13.2 points on 46.1% shooting, shot 39.7% from 3 on 6.1 attempts per game and 83.3% on free throws. He played against the Shockers this past season at Koch Arena, scoring 17 points with five 3-pointers in a 76-59 season-opening loss for Lipscomb.
According to Synergy’s logs, McGinnis was one of the best jump shooters in the country (89th percentile) last season; he has versatility as a catch-and-shoot sniper (58% effective field goal percentage) and creating his own looks off the dribble (52.2% effective field goal percentage).
The Huntsville, Alabama, native began his college career at UNC Greensboro for his freshman season, then transferred to Cincinnati, where he suffered a season-ending injury for the 2021-22 season. He has played his last two seasons at Lipscomb, where he was a part of teams that won 20 games both years. There is a possibility he could have two years of eligibility remaining.
Wichita State is still firmly in the mix for Oral Roberts transfer Issac McBride, who took an official visit to WSU two weeks ago. He is a lead scoring guard who averaged 19.8 points last season and was coached at ORU in the past by Mills and WSU assistant coach Kenton Paulino.
WSU is slated to return Quincy Ballard, Harlond Beverly, Bijan Cortes, Xavier Bell and Ronnie DeGray III from last season’s rotation, while Joy Ighovodja and Yanis Bamba make seven scholarship returners. WSU has two freshmen signed to its 2024 recruiting class in TJ Williams and Zion Pipkin. Rogers, Kenny Pohto, Isaac Abidde and Jalen Ricks are currently in the transfer portal with all expected to move on.
