Kansas State basketball lands Villanova marksman Brendan Hausen in transfer portal

After Kansas State finished No. 285 in the country in 3-point percentage last season, coach Jerome Tang has been on the lookout to upgrade the team’s outside shooting.

The Wildcats did just that on Friday when they received a verbal commitment from Brendan Hausen, a 6-foot-4 junior guard who was in the transfer portal after playing two seasons at Villanova. He was considered a four-star transfer prospect and the No. 121 overall player currently in the portal by 247 Sports.

Hausen, a former top-75 recruit in the class of 2022, is regarded as an elite sharpshooter. In limited playing time at Villanova, Hausen connected on 39.5% of his career 223 attempts beyond the arc. Most notably, he knocked down 44.8% of his 3s against Big East competition this past season on more than four attempts per game.

Synergy rates Hausen as an “excellent” jump shooter. Its logs tracked Hausen hitting 38.7% of his catch-and-shoot 3-pointers last season. He also ranked in the 92nd percentile nationally, although on low volume, for efficiency on dribble jumpers.

He is a career 85.2% foul shooter (on just 27 career attempts) and also rarely turns the ball over, with just 25 turnovers in nearly 900 minutes in his career (1.1 per 40 minutes).

The commitment comes on the heels of an official visit to Manhattan this past weekend for Hausen, who also received interest from Connecticut, Texas A&M, Nebraska and Georgetown.

Hausen’s commitment bolsters what was already one of the nation’s best transfer classes, as EvanMiya has K-State pegged No. 23 nationally in incoming transfer class rankings. Hausen joins C.J. Jones, a 6-foot-4 guard who averaged 11.4 points and 4.8 assists last season for Illinois-Chicago, and Dug McDaniel, a 5-foot-11 guard who averaged 16.3 points and 4.7 points last season for Michigan and is rated the No. 21 player in the portal by On3.

The Wildcats are undergoing some notable changes this offseason as Tang looks to replace eight players from last year’s roster. With the three portal additions, along with four-star freshman guard David Castillo, K-State currently has five open scholarships for its 2024 recruiting class.

The key returners are forward David N’Guessan and guard Dai Dai Ames, while K-State has lost four starters from last season: Tylor Perry (graduated); Cam Carter (transferred to LSU); Arthur Kaluma (NBA Draft); and Will McNair (graduated).

Other Wildcats in the transfer portal include Ques Glover, Jerrell Colbert, Dorian Finister (Sam Houston State) and R.J. Jones.