Rutgers Basketball: Impact of grad transfer Akwasi Yeboah for 2019-20
Akwasi Yeboah should make an instant impact as a member of Steve Pikiell’s rotation with Rutgers Basketball for the 2019-20 season.
Rutgers Basketball had a connection with graduate transfer Akwasi Yeboah before he ever decided to leave the Stony Brook Seawolves. That connection led to the securement of a big transfer for the Scarlet Knights.
On Thursday, May 2, Yeboah announced that he would spend his final collegiate season in Piscataway. He will become a key cog for the team’s wing depth, likely sliding into the role of the team’s preeminent sixth man.
It’s a big boost for a program inching towards a rare NCAA Tournament appearance.
Committed! Grateful for the opportunity and challenge ahead. Thank God, my family, friends and those who helped along the way. Excited for my next chapter! #GardenStatement pic.twitter.com/kgP3LrN4a0
— Akwasi Yeboah (@akwasi_yeboah15) May 2, 2019
Last season, the junior averaged a whopping 16.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game for Stony Brook, leading the team to a second place finish in the America East. They were promptly upset in the conference tournament at home by Binghamton. Yeboah earned First Team All-America East honors at the end of the season.
Yeboah is just a career 33.5 percent shooter from 3-point range, but he’s quietly been one of the most impactful players in America East history. According to Sports-Reference,
As for the connection that helped push him to Piscataway, Yeboah happens to be familiar with coach Steve Pikiell, the last Stony Brook head coach prior to Jeff Boals. Pikiell recruited Yeboah to go to Stony Brook, then convinced him to redshirt during what ended up being Pikiell’s final year at Stony Brook.
Therefore, this will be the first time Yeboah actually gets to play for Pikiell. The wing picked Rutgers over TCU and SMU, according to 247 Sports.
He’ll walk into Rutgers as one of the most experienced players on the roster. The Scarlet Knights remain a young squad, losing almost none of their major contributors from a year ago. Yeboah is most likely to spell either Eugene Omoruyi or Ron Harper Jr. on the court for lengthy stints.
The work is largely glossed over, but Pikiell is slowly building the program his way, with designs on an NCAA Tournament trip in the not-so-distant future.
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Adding Akwasi Yeboah accelerates that timetable for the Scarlet Knights.