6-9 Ball State forward transfer Basheer Jihad commits to ASU
On the same day that Arizona State lost two forwards to the transfer portal in Zane Meeks and Bryant Selebangue, the Sun Devils were also able to gain a frontcourt player and one of the better prospects out of the transfer portal in Ball State forward transfer Basheer Jihad.
Jihad led the Cardinals in the 2023-24 campaign, averaging 18.6 points and 8.0 rebounds, and also paced his team with 34 blocks during a 15-16 season with a 7-11 mark in the MAC. Jihad tallied 11 games, scoring 20 or more points, and posted nine double-doubles. He was one of the better shooters on the Cardinal squad, converting 45.1 percent from the field and 35.4 percent from three-point range. His free throw percentage last season was just under 75 percent.
The forward was a second-team All-MAC selection this past season, an honor he enjoyed for two of the three years he spent at Ball State. He was also voted the MAC's co-player of the week three times. Jihad was the epitome of a late bloomer, starting 30 of 31 games last year as a junior after being in the starting five in just one game during his first two seasons at Ball State.
Originally a member of the 2021 class out of Farmington, Michigan, Jihad started just one game in his first two seasons at Ball State before he flourished as a junior, starting all 30 of the games in which he played.
While ASU has four incoming freshmen who are part of a Top 25 2024 recruiting class and all stand 6-8 or taller in Sammie Yeanay, Amier Ali, Jeremiah Nyarko, and Jaden Smith, the Sun Devils will now need to turn their attention to landing backcourt players out of the transfer portal to compensate for the losses of Frankie Collins, Jamiya Neal and Braelon Green who all left the team after the 2023-24 season concluded and entered the portal.
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