MANHATTAN — Kansas State basketball took a step closer to a full roster on Tuesday by adding a 7-foot rim protector.
Ugonna Onyenso, who spent the past two seasons at Kentucky, signed with the Wildcats after withdrawing from the NBA Draft last month.
The addition of Onyenso increases K-State’s roster to 12 players with one scholarship remaining to offer. He gives the Wildcats a proven defensive force on the interior after averaging 2.75 blocks as a sophomore.
Onyenso, a consensus top-25 high school prospect in 2023 before being reclassified to the 2022 class, played in 16 games as a freshman for Kentucky. But his playing time increased last season, when he averaged 18.7 minutes, 3.6 points and 4.8 rebounds in 24 starts over the last 14 games.
Onyenso, a native of Nigeria, chose K-State over interests from North Carolina, Mississippi State and Oregon.
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It was a huge boon for K-State coach Jerome Tang, who has now added three legitimate big men to accompany a slew of guards through the transfer portal. Last month, the Wildcats signed versatile 6-9 Samford forward Achor Achor to go with 6-11 Arkansas forward Baye Fall, not to mention athletic 6-6 junior college forward Chimobi Ikegwaruka .
The Wildcats also return forwards David N’Guessan, Taj Manning and Macaleab Rich from last year’s 19-15 team.
K-State should also be well-placed in the backcourt with Michigan transfer Dug Jones, Illinois-Chicago transfer C.J. Jones, Villanova transfer Brendan Hausen and Max Jones from Cal State Fullerton. Four-star point guard David Castillo is the only high school recruit.
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 signs former Kentucky 7-footer Ugonna Oneyenso
