FAYETTEVILLE — Former Arkansas prep basketball star Austin Reaves is transferring from Wichita State and has sent release letters to several college basketball programs, including Arkansas.
Reaves (6-5, 175 pounds), who played for Cedar Ridge in Newark, has played two seasons for the Shockers.
“We've had players choose to go somewhere else, but Austin was a little bit of a surprise," Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright told the Wichita Eagle newspaper. "The rest of them are not. They're hunting minutes and they want to play now and compete and they don't see that happening."
Reaves averaged 8.1 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.0 assists last season for Wichita State. He made seven 3-pointers in the first half of a 90-71 win over Tulsa on Jan. 29.
“I honestly couldn’t explain it,” Reaves said after the game. “It was one of those adrenaline rushes that you get. I’m blessed to play on a team like this…a group of guys that are so close, that love each other like we do, you don’t see it very much.”
Efforts to contact Reaves via phone and text by WholeHogSports on Thursday were unsuccessful. He also declined comment to the Wichita Eagle.
Per NCAA transfer rules, he would have to redshirt next season if he transfers to another Division I program.
Arkansas has one scholarship left to give after a pair of players transferred last month. Motlow State Community College forward Rashawn Fredericks (6-6, 198) is visiting this weekend.
The Razorbacks had interest in Reaves during his senior year of high school when he averaged 32 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists per game. Schools like Arkansas, Texas, Gonzaga, Iowa State and Florida State picked up their interest in Reaves when he scored 73 points in Cedar Ridge’s 117-115 with over Forrest City, but did not offer him at the time because he lacked an NCAA qualifying test score.
He followed that up with a record-setting 191 points in four games at the NEA Tournament in Jonesboro, including 56 in a triple-overtime game.
Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall watched him play early in January 2016 and Reaves took an official visit the next week. He committed on Jan. 20, 2016, hoping he would get a qualifying score.
After qualifying, he signed with the Shockers on April 13 and went on to average 4.1 points and 1.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 11.8 minutes of playing time as a freshman.
Like Arkansas, Wichita State has just four players returning from a squad that finished 25-8. Those four players account for just 11.2 percent of the team’s minutes last season.