Ernest Udeh to Transfer from Kansas

The sophomore-to-be big man is the eighth Jayhawk to hit the transfer portal this offseason.

With the transfer portal window closing, an eighth Kansas player from the 2022-23 team jumped in, the most recent being sophomore-to-be big man Ernest Udeh Jr.

This one comes as more of a surprise than the rest, and one Kansas fans will probably be feeling for a while. With Hunter Dickinson committing, it seemed logical that one of Udeh or Zuby Ejiofor would leave with so many minutes at the five spot now claimed. But now both are gone and Kansas’ only big men on the roster are Dickinson and KJ Adams. Five-star forward Mackenzie Mgbako is announcing his decision tomorrow, May 12, but he is more of a stretch four.

Udeh only played eight minutes per game as a freshman, but his 2.6 points and 1.8 rebounds don’t tell the whole story. Udeh came on strong late in the season after Ejiofor suffered a foot injury, bringing high energy and effort on both ends of the court.

Now Kansas has three open scholarship spots – with Udeh, Ejiofor, and Kyle Cuffe now gone – and while it's assumed one of those spots will go to Mgbako, Bill Self will now need to go get help in the front court. All of KU's freshmen recruits play the 1-4 spots.