Kansas Basketball Receives Commitment from Zeke Mayo

Kansas adds another guard from the transfer portal

South Dakota State's guard Zeke Mayo (2) passes the ball to a teammate during the first half on / Samantha Laurey / Argus Leader / USA

Just a few days after receiving a commitment from ex-Florida Gator Riley Kugel, the Jayhawks secured another commitment from a highly rated transfer. This time, Lawrence native and former South Dakota State guard Zeke Mayo chose to join the Jayhawks.

Mayo, a Lawrence High graduate, had originally scheduled a visit to Oklahoma after visiting KU, but promptly canceled that and committed to Bill Self’s Jayhawks. His instagram and twitter accounts making the announcement both prominently feature Kansas football running back Devin Neal, another Lawrence native and lifelong friend of Mayo. 

To put it simply, this is a huge pickup for Self and the Jayhawks. Mayo was one of the top prospects in the portal and fills a huge hole for Kansas. The former Jackrabbit is one of the best shooters in the portal and his ability to can threes will be a huge plus for Kansas. 

In his junior season with SDSU, Mayo shot 235 times from deep, canning 92 of them over the course of the 35 game schedule. That’s an average of 2.3 triples made per game, a number that Kansas will gladly take, but will hope for another progression from Mayo as he has improved each year in college. His volume of shots as well as his percentages have slowly increased over the last two years and you can imagine that the green light should be on for the newest senior on KU’s roster.

But Mayo isn’t just a three point master. He made 54% from two point land and averaged 5.7 rebounds per game last season, a number that is about a half rebound lower than his sophomore campaign. Despite the small regression in rebounds, the six foot four playmaker has shown he is a jack of all trades and is ready to make a huge strides when he joins KU, pledging that he came to Lawrence to win a National Championship. 

With Dajuan Harris and KJ Adams already announcing that they are returning, the addition of Mayo and Riley Kugel, the quality incoming class of freshmen (and the potential of one more in Liam McNeeley), plus the possible retention of Johnny Furphy and Hunter Dickinson, Kansas fans will have a lot to be excited about when the 2024-25 season arrives in October.