San Diego State lost a forward with South Sudanese heritage from last season’s basketball team, senior Jay Pal.
It might replace him with another forward with South Sudanese roots.
Mawot Mag, a 6-foot-7 grad transfer from Rutgers, is scheduled to walk in commencement at the New Jersey campus on Tuesday and then get on a plane to San Diego for an official visit, potentially the final piece to SDSU’s 2024-25 roster.
Mag is a quintessential Aztecs player for two reasons. He’s an athletic, versatile, experienced defender who embodies their mantra of positionless basketball. And he’s from South Sudan, an increasingly fruitful pipeline of talent to Montezuma Mesa.
Mag was born in South Sudan and fled the civil war for a refugee camp in Egypt at age 2 before emigrating to Melbourne, Australia. He moved to the United States at 15 and played at Prolific Prep in Napa two years after former Aztecs center Nathan Mensah did.
Five SDSU players over the past decade were either born in South Sudan or had parents who were: redshirt freshman Magoon Gwath and former players Pal, Aguek Arop, Ed Chang and Angelo Chol.
Mag has a COVID year of eligibility remaining after spending his first four at Rutgers. He started 41 times over his Scarlet Knights career, averaging 9.1 points and 3.8 rebounds in 26.8 minutes last season. He has battled injuries, limiting him to 80 of a possible 126 games. He played in just 17 last season, highlighted by a 24-point, 10-rebound performance at Iowa in which he went 3 of 6 from deep.
He’s a career 70.7 percent shooter at the line and has range out to 3, although he has only made 26.3 percent beyond the arc. His defensive credentials are unquestioned, averaging 1.8 steals per 40 minutes last season — second best on the team — and able to switch screens and guard multiple positions.
SDSU has one scholarship available next season after junior forward Elijah Saunders unexpectedly entered the portal two days before the deadline and transferred to Virginia. Mag has the versatility to play the No. 3 or 4 positions.
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The newcomers
SDSU officially introduced its three transfer additions, meaning they completed the necessary NCAA paperwork that allows coach Brian Dutcher to speak about them publicly.
On former Florida Atlantic guard Nick Boyd: “Nick is an elite player. He can score at all three levels. Obviously, he’s played point guard. He made four 3s against us in the Final Four, and we’re pretty good defensively, so he’s a good shooter. He’s got a high IQ, he wants to win and he’s a really big addition to what we want to do. He did damage against us on the biggest stage, and that always garners respect.”
On former USD guard Wayne McKinney III: “I watched Wayne play as a junior and senior at high school at Coronado and then followed his career at USD. I’ve always been impressed with him as a guard who has developed into a really good guard. The fact that he’s a winner and wants to win more than anything is the reason he came here.
“We played two point guards together last year with Darrion (Trammell) and Lamont (Butler). Nick is a very good point guard, but he also can play alongside Wayne if he has to and they can share the role at times.”
On former Middle Tennessee center Jared Coleman-Jones: “He’s all of 6-10, 240. Offensively, he’s comfortable and is going to be very dangerous. He shoots the 3, he can penetrate off the bounce, he can score in the low post. His ability to score the ball is very impressive. He knows he has to get better defensively, and he’s committed to doing that. What made it easy to say yes to him is that, after talking to him, I feel he’s about the right things and wants to grow his game in every regard.”
Boyd has two years remaining; McKinney and Coleman-Jones have one.
Draft combine
Jaedon LeDee performed well at the G League Elite Camp in Chicago last week, the first of two major combines ahead of the NBA Draft on June 26-27, but was not among the five players selected to advance to the main NBA combine this week. LeDee averaged 11 points (9-of-18 shooting) and 5.5 rebounds in 15.5 minutes across two camp games.
Forward Keshad Johnson, who spent his first four seasons at SDSU before transferring to Arizona, has looked good so far at the main combine, also in Chicago.
His measurables: 6-6¼, 224 pounds, 6-10¼ wingspan, 42-inch vertical leap (tied for the highest).
“Great day for you Arizona’s Keshad Johnson,” Jonathan Givony, ESPN’s NBA Draft analyst, tweeted. “Crushed the athletic testing. Guarding everyone in live action and making shots and smart reads too. Plug and play guy.”
New Wyoming coach
Wyoming quickly hired Green Bay coach Sundance Wicks after Jeff Linder left to become the lead assistant at Texas Tech. Wicks grew up in Gillette, Wyo., in the state’s northeast corner and was a Cowboys assistant from 2020 to 2023. In one season at Green Bay, he was Horizon League coach of the year after the Phoenix finished 18-14 and won 15 more games than the previous season.
“You cannot put into words what it means for a kid from the country roads outside of Gillette to represent the state of Wyoming and the Cowboys,” Gillette said. “If there is one thing I learned growing up in Wyoming, it’s that when you honor the Brown and Gold, you are honoring so much more than just the University of Wyoming.
“You are honoring every single hard hat that woke up before the sun to work the coal mines. … Honoring the Brown and Gold is the understanding that a tip of the cap, a steering wheel wave, a hard handshake or a big hug is how you lift your people up in support of a hard day’s work.”
Wicks is the second new Mountain West head coach. Fresno State hired Vance Walberg to replace Justin Huston.
NIL tournament
Creighton reportedly is the eighth team at the proposed NIL event in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving week, joining SDSU, Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers and Texas A&M. The NIL collective for each program would receive $1 million plus the chance for an additional $1 million for the winner.
Creighton was scheduled to play in the Battle 4 Atlantis event in The Bahamas but withdrew to be the Big East entrant in what CBS Sports says will be called the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas. Like SDSU, the Bluejays made a three-year commitment to the event.
No word yet on Notre Dame, which is still technically in the four-team Rady Children’s Invitational at UCSD’s LionTree Arena that same week. Schools are allowed to play in only one nonconference MTE (multiteam event) per season. A source said the Rady buyout is $200,000.
