Kansas Jayhawks lands commitment from former Mississippi State basketball guard

Former Mississippi State men’s basketball combo guard Shakeel Moore, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound senior from Greensboro, North Carolina who entered the NCAA transfer portal on April 3, has decided to play his final season of college basketball at Kansas, he reported Wednesday on his Instagram account.

The announcement, also reported by On3.com’s Joe Tipton on social media site X, came just a few hours after KU revealed that guard Elmarko Jackson would miss the entire 2024-25 season because of a knee injury that will require surgery.

Moore — he started his career at North Carolina State, then played three seasons at Mississippi State — averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in 2023-24 for the 21-14 Bulldogs.

He started 22 of 33 games and logged an average of 23.5 minutes per contest. Overall he hit 96 of 205 shots for 46.8% and 29 of 80 3-pointers for 36.3%. He made 70.2% of his free throws.

Known for his defense, Moore also had multiple steals in 41 of 99 career games with the Bulldogs.

A year ago, he scored in double figures in 13 of his 22 starts. He had five consecutive double-figure outings during SEC play (Jan. 27-Feb. 10). He also had multiple steals in eight games, trailing only Cameron Matthews and Dashawn Davis for the team lead. For the year, he had 28 steals.

Moore scored a season-best 16 points on 5-for-5 shooting against Murray State on Dec. 13. He had 13 points versus Alabama on Jan. 13 and an SEC high of 14 points versus Mississippi on Jan. 30 and Missouri on Feb, 10. He was 4-for-4 from 3-point range versus Mizzou.

He scored five points on 2-of-7 shooting (1-4 3s) while playing 26 minutes in a Round of 64 NCAA Tournament loss to Michigan State.

Moore was ranked No. 115 in the recruiting class of 2020 by Rivals.com. He played high school basketball at Piedmont Classical High School in Browns Summit, North Carolina for three seasons followed by Moravian Prep in Hickory, N.C. for his senior season. He led Piedmont Classic to three consecutive Carolina Athletic Association for Schools of Choice (CAASC) state championship teams in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19.

KU now has 12 players on scholarship for the 2024-25 season. They are: incoming transfers Moore (Mississippi State), Rylan Griffen (Alabama), Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State) and AJ Storr (Wisconsin), incoming freshmen Rakease Passmore and Flory Bidunga, plus returnees Jackson, Hunter Dickinson, Dajuan Harris, KJ Adams, Jamari McDowell and Zach Clemence.

KU also has six non-scholarship players on its roster, including former Rice scholarship player Noah Shelby. Teams are allowed 13 scholarship players. However, KU likely will stay at 12 to conclude a self-imposed sanction that cut three scholarship players over three seasons.