MANHATTAN — Kansas State basketball landed a transfer to Arkansas, even if it wasn’t the one topping the Wildcats’ roster.
Baye Fall, a 6-foot-2, 215-pound center and 2023 McDonald’s All-American, committed to K-State on Saturday during a weekend recruiting visit to Manhattan, according to the college basketball reporter at On3, Joe Tipton.
Fall, who played in just nine games for Arkansas as a freshman last season, was one of two former Razorbacks who visited last week. The Wildcats are also seeking to transfer shooting guard Khalif Battle.
Fall, originally from Dakar, Senegal, was highly recruited at Denver’s accelerated schools but played sparingly at Arkansas. He played just 44 minutes, averaging 0.8 points, 1.3 rebounds and 0.7 blocks, and did not appear in any games after February 17.
But Fall, who despite his limited college experience comes with a big 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 fourth addition to the Wildcats’ transfer portal and the second in the past week, joining former Villanova guard Brendan Hausen, who signed on Friday. Previous coach Jerome Tang signed Michigan guard Dug McDaniel and Illinois-Chicago guard C.J. Jones.
Although Fall is the only big man to sign so far, K-State had veteran Rutgers center Clifford Omoruyi in town for a recruiting visit this week. The 6-11, 240-pound Omoruyi, who also 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 main lineup determined soon, but there is still a lot of work to do. The Wildcats have at least four roster spots to fill, and that’s if forward Arthur Kaluma returns after declaring for the NBA draft and forward David N’Guessan decides to remain a fifth-year super senior.
Last 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 again after transferring from Samford.
Arne Green lives in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett Network. He can be contacted at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared in the Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball receives commitment from former Arkansas big man
