WKU men’s basketball head coach Rick Stansbury has announced the addition of two key players to the program, one for next year and the other for the following two seasons.
On Wednesday came the addition of graduate transfer Desean Murray (6-4, Forward) from Auburn University to the Hilltopper program.
Later in the day, Stansbury announced the addition of transfer and former Kentucky Mr. Basketball Carson Williams (6-5, Forward) to the Hilltopper program.Williams, a Bluegrass State native from Owenton, Ky., will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the 2018-19 season following his transfer from Northern Kentucky.
Murray, a Stanley, N.C., native, joins WKU for his final season following a highly successful junior year at Auburn. The versatile forward, who’s scored more than 1,200 career points, will be eligible to compete immediately after graduating and transferring from the Tiger program.
“We’re excited to add Desean to our program and family,” Stansbury said. “He brings a wealth of experience from a winning program, and most importantly, he brings exceptional toughness, which is something we were looking to add.”
Murray started all 34 games in the frontcourt and was a vital member of a 26-win Auburn squad that claimed a share of the SEC regular-season championship and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
He averaged 10.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists as a junior for the Tigers, shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 84 percent from the free-throw line – netting 100 of 119 attempts in just 23.9 minutes per game.
Murray led Auburn in rebounding and was especially tenacious on the offensive boards, pulling down 2.7 per game.
Murray sat out the 2016-17 season at Auburn after transferring from Presbyterian College, where he was a Big South All-Conference first-team selection as a sophomore. He led the Big South and ranked 29th in the nation in scoring that season at 20.2 points per game, while also ranking fourth in the league in rebounding (7.4) and field-goal percentage (54.3), and third in steals (2.0). He also attempted 211 free throws, making 163.
Murray was the Big South Freshman of the Year in 2014-15 at Presbyterian after averaging 15.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 steals per contest.
A four-sport athlete at one point in high school, Murray helped Northside Christian Academy to a No. 5 national ranking in his final prep year.
Carson Williams
“It’s obvious that Carson has to sit out a year, but after watching his game films and finding more out about him, he’s absolutely too good of a player and too good of a person to not have as part of our program,” Stansbury said. “He comes from a great family and is a great student, and this is the highest compliment I can give him – he reminds you of Justin Johnson.”
Williams started 61 games across his two seasons at Northern Kentucky, averaging 12 points and 5.6 rebounds as a sophomore in 2017-18. He shot 60.8 percent from the field on a 22-10 team that won a Horizon League regular-season title for the first time in program history.
Williams was named to the Horizon League All-Freshman Team in 2016-17 while starting 34 games for NKU. The forward averaged 10.8 points and 5.9 rebounds in his first college season, helping the Norse to 24 wins, a Horizon League Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.
Williams was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 2016 after averaging 26.3 points and 10.7 rebounds as a senior at Owen County High School.
He’ll be the second Kentucky Mr. Basketball on WKU’s roster, joining 2017 award winner Taveion Hollingsworth.
Williams scored 2,967 career points in high school along with 1,671 rebounds, the fifth-highest total in Kentucky history.