BY MICHAEL SWAIN
LAWRENCE, Kan (247sports.com) – It hasn’t taken long for Kansas to land its second commitment of the transfer portal cycle. The Jayhawks landed a top target on Tuesday evening, getting the commitment of Zeke Mayo. The South Dakota State transfer picked KU over opportunities at Houston, Texas and Oklahoma to name a few. His commitment comes after the conclusion of his unofficial visit to KU on Tuesday. Mayo is also a native of Lawrence.
Mayo is coming off a strong junior season with the Jackrabbits, as he led them to a 22-13 record and a place in the NCAA Tournament. The 6-foot-4 guard led the team in scoring with 18.8 points per game on 46.6 percent shooting from the field and 39.1 percent shooting from 3. He also chipped in with 5.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
In the 247Sports transfer rankings, Mayo holds a rating of 95 and is ranked as the No. 12 overall player in the portal and the No. 2-ranked point guard. With Mayo in the fold, the Jayhawks have two commitments from perimeter players in Florida transfer Riley Kugel and Zeke Mayo. The Jayhawks now have the No. 1 transfer class in the country early in the cycle.
Coming out of high school in the 2021 class, Mayo was an unranked recruit. He played his high school ball at Lawrence High School and picked South Dakota State over offers from Central Arkansas, Jacksonville, North Alabama, Northern Colorado, Northern Kentucky and Tulsa.
247Sports’ Director of Scouting Adam Finkelstein provided the following scouting report on the transfer…
“He’s a prolific shot-maker and analytics darling because he has made 39% of his threes throughout his three-year college career, finishes at a high-rate around the rim for a guard, and typically avoids the mid-range area, with just 15% of his total shots coming from that range per Pivot Analysis. He’s also been one of college basketball’s best free-throw shooters over the last three years with a career 87%.
Mayo has solid positional size at a listed 6-foot-4 and the versatility to play both on and off the ball. He’s also equally dangerous with his jumper off the catch or the dribble. Off the ball he can come off various types of screening actions or provide extreme gravity as a spot-up court spacer. With the ball in his hands, he doesn’t separate as dynamically as more explosive athletes, but is nonetheless a major threat in ball-screens (ranking in the 87th percentile per Synergy Sports) because the threat of his pull-up forces defenders to get over the top and then he’s very efficient at using his body once establishing an advantageous angle.
Mayo is also a passing threat, albeit a turnover prone one, who can make plays for others when he gets opposing defenses scrambling out of long close-out situations. Finally, he is a terrific perimeter rebounder.”
