FAYETTEVILLE — A request to the NCAA for immediate eligibility by former Arkansas and now-Tulsa guard Keyshawn Embery-Simpson has been denied, Golden Hurricane coach Frank Haith said Thursday.
Haith said an appeal was also denied. Without the waiver, Embery-Simpson must redshirt the upcoming season at Tulsa.
Embery-Simpson announced he would transfer from Arkansas in March, two days after the Razorbacks fired their former head coach, Mike Anderson. Embery-Simpson was a freshman last season at Arkansas and averaged 4.1 points and 1.2 rebounds in 33 games.
A native of Midwest City, Okla., Embery-Simpson announced he would transfer to Tulsa in early April, four days after he entered the NCAA transfer portal.
“His story was compelling,” Haith said during a news conference Thursday. “To say that this process isn’t consistent, I think is the right word. I thought he had a legitimate (case), from a humanistic standpoint, to be eligible to play. I’m disappointed about that for him.”
On Friday, ESPN college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman tweeted that the NCAA had approved 48 waiver requests, denied eight requests and had not ruled on 65 requests. It was unclear whether that total reflected the decision on Embery-Simpson, but indicates a significant backlog with 11 days remaining before the start of the regular season on Nov. 5.
Among those still waiting on a decision is Arkansas’ Connor Vanover, a 7-3 center from Little Rock who transferred from California following a coaching change there in the spring. The change in head coaches - former Cal coach Wyking Jones recruited Vanover - is one of two mitigating factors in the Razorbacks’ request for immediate eligibility for Vanover. The other factor is that Vanover has an ill grandmother in the state.
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman said Thursday he has not been told anything new in regards to Vanover’s request.
“My daughter asks every morning at breakfast,” Musselman said.
The Razorbacks are scheduled to open the season on Nov. 5 with a game against Rice. Arkansas also is scheduled to host Tulsa on Dec. 14, the first game in a reported home-and-home series between the programs.
Embery-Simpson will be eligible to play against the Razorbacks in 2020-21.