9 hours Ago By The Topeka Capital-Journal
Kansas State basketball coach Jerome Tang has landed his first offseason transfer and with it some instant offense.Abdi Bashir, a 6-foot-7, 160-pound sharpshooter who averaged 20.1 points for Monmouth, announced Monday via social media that he is joining the Wildcats next season.
Bashir, a sophomore guard from Omaha, Nebraska, gives the Wildcats a big-time 3-point shooting threat on the same day that they lost one to the transfer portal in Brendan Hausen. Bashir shot 38.3% from 3-point range in a breakout season for the Hawks.
After averaging just 13 minutes per game as a freshman reserve, Bashir came into his own as a sophomore, starting 32 of 33 games for the Hawks (10-13) while receiving first-team Coastal Athletic Association honors. He also was an 86.8% free-throw shooter and averaged 2.
6 rebounds with 2.2 assists.While Bashir will make the leap from mid-major Monmouth, he showed he could play excel against power conference competition, scoring a season-best 38 points with 10 3-pointers against Rutgers, 28 against Seton Hall, 20 at Michigan State, and 15 at Auburn.
He had five games with 30 or more points.Related: Kansas State basketball associate head coach the first to leave Jerome Tang's staffRelated: After three quiet weeks, Kansas State basketball loses its first player to transfer portalBashir did most of his damage from 3-point range with 56% of his shot attempts and 57% of his makes beyond the arc. He made 127 threes for the season.
With Hausen gone and senior starter Max Jones still waiting to hear from the NCAA on a possible extra year of eligibility, openings exist for Bashir to make an immediate impact for K-State. Point guard Dug McDaniel could be the lone returning starter for a Wildcat team that finished 16-17 last year in its third season under Tang.Bashir is the Wildcats' second transfer acquisition but the first in the current portal window.
Forward Tyreek Smith joined the team from Memphis during the semester but did not play.Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.
com or on X (formerly Twitter) at @arnegreen.This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State basketball adds sharpshooting transfer from Monmouth.
