Wichita State men’s basketball freshman removed from team, enters transfer portal

Wichita State men’s basketball freshman Jacob Wilson is no longer with the team, head coach Isaac Brown confirmed to The Eagle on Wednesday.

Wilson, a 6-foot-5 guard from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, entered the transfer portal on Wednesday and has been removed from Wichita State’s roster on GoShockers.com, just two days after the start of the fall semester.

“Jacob Wilson is no longer associated with our men’s basketball program due to a violation of team rules,” Brown said in a statement released to The Eagle. “We wish him all the best in his future endeavors.”

A WSU spokesperson declined to specify what the violation was.

It marks the second straight August that a player has left the program before playing a game in a Shockers uniform.

Last August, center Matt McFarlane, a transfer from Colby Community College, left for personal reasons and ultimately transferred to La Salle, where he had to sit out the 2021-22 season. He is no longer with La Salle.

And just like that situation with McFarlane, because Wilson received financial aid for the fall semester, WSU won’t have its 13th scholarship spot available until the spring semester. Wilson would have to sit out if he transfers to another Division I program. Or, he could play immediately if he chooses a junior college or NAIA school.

According to sources within the program, WSU will explore options to fill the vacancy with a transfer who could potentially be eligible to start playing at semester break.

Wilson committed to the Shockers in April, shortly after the hiring of assistant coach Butch Pierre, who had recruited Wilson when he was an assistant coach at UTEP.

In his senior season at Liberty High School in Baton Rouge, Wilson averaged 19.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals while leading his team to the first state championship game in program history and earning first-team Class 4A honors from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

Wilson was the lone true freshman in Brown’s 2022 recruiting class, which made him a likely candidate for a redshirt season.