Men’s basketball signs four recruits for 2016
Head Coach Keno Davis discusses the Central Michigan University men's basketball team's Mid-American Conference Tournament on March 13 at Quicken Loans Arena.
Guards Matt Smith, Ellis Jefferson, Kevin McKay and Center Innocent Nwoko signed to join the Central Michigan men’s basketball team next season Wednesday, the first day high school players are allowed to do so.
"I think you're going to see a young group come in next year that's going to be very talented, and with a really high ceiling," said Head Coach Keno Davis to cmuchippewas.com.
Innocent Nwoko, Center
Nwoko has been playing basketball at New Haven High School, but is originally from Lagos, Nigeria.
He moved to the United States in 2013, but not for basketball. Nwoko came as a soccer prodigy and wanted to hone his skills.
Once the NHHS high school basketball coach saw him, he knew he had to have the 6-foot-11 kid on the team. Nwoko, who didn’t start playing basketball until high school, averaged 5.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game last season as his team finished 25-1, according to MLive.
Nwoko’s biggest value is his ability to guard all five positions on the floor. Playing the striker/forward position in soccer, he was conditioned to constantly run the entire field.
Davis saw Nwoko at an AAU tournament last summer and offered him a scholarship. After visiting in September, Nwoko decided CMU was a good fit and committed. He wants to major in either engineering or business.
Nwoko scored 30 goals in his lone soccer season for NHHS.
Matt Smith, Guard
Smith grew up in South Elgin, Illinois playing basketball and broke 1,000 career points as a junior, according the Chicago Tribune. The 6-foot guard averaged 14.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game last season and was named second team all-area by the Courier-News.
He plays AAU ball for the Illinois Wolves. The same program that produced former Wisconsin star and current Charlotte Hornet Frank Kaminsky.
Smith gave his verbal commitment in April and will join CMU as it loses its two starting guards Chris Fowler and Rayshawn Simmons, to graduation.
Ellis Jefferson, Guard
Jefferson is a 6-foot-1 point guard from San Antonio, Texas. He chose CMU over offers from Central Arkansas and the University of Texas San Antonio.
Max Ivany of d1nation.com said Jefferson “has all the intangable leadership qualities a lead guard needs to possess and backs them up with devastating handles.”
He has a two-star rating (out of five) on verbalcommits.com.
Kevin McKay, Guard
McKay is a 6-foot-4 shooting guard from Warren De La Salle High School. Last season, he averaged 20 points per game during the regular season and 31 points per game in the postseason. He was a Free Press All-East selection as well as a first team All-Catholic League player.
He has been on the varsity team since his freshman year and is a three-time captain.
McKay is also rated as a two-star player on verbalcommits.com.
