(Ames, IA) — Iowa St.’s men’s basketball roster just got deeper on Saturday as Head Coach TJ Otzelberger landed three new players via the transfer portal. Forward Taj Manning from Kansas St., Guard JaQuan Johnson from Bradley and Forward Tre Singleton from Northwestern all are joining the Cyclones.
Manning is a 6’7″ wing from Grandview, MO who was mostly a role player for the Wildcats. Last season, Manning started 17 games and averaged 4.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Manning was not used much under K-St’s former head coach Jerome Tang — after he was fired, Manning’s points and rebounds increased. Manning has one more season of eligibility remaining.
Johnson is a 5’11” point guard from Milwaukee, WI who led Bradley in scoring last season, averaging 16.9 points per game. Johnson was a 38 percent three point shooter (54-141) and averaged 3.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He was a first team all-conference selection and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in the MVC. Johnson became the first Bradley player since 1990-91 to record at least three games of at least 30 points and tied the Bradley single-game record with nine steals in one game. Johnson still has two seasons of eligibility remaining and gives Otzelberger an option to start at point guard along with Killyan Toure.
Singleton is a 6’8″ forward from Jeffersonville, Indiana who started 31 games for Northwestern and averaged 7.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game. He gets most of his points in the paint making only 9 threes for the Wildcats. He should be a candidate to start alongside Blake Buchanan inside and has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
