WKU men’s basketball head coach Rick Stansbury announced Thursday the addition of graduate transfer Darius Thompson (6-4, Guard) to the Hilltopper program.
Thompson, a Murfreesboro, Tenn., native, brings years of experience – including three NCAA Tournament trips – to the WKU backcourt for his final season. He will be eligible to compete immediately after graduating and transferring from Virginia.
“We’re awfully excited to have Darius become a part of our program and our family,” Stansbury said. “It’s very obvious he comes from a winning program and also grew up in a home where his father (Lonnie) is the head coach at Cumberland University in Tennessee. He brings lots of different abilities, and most importantly, he’s a high-character young man who will provide us with some experience and leadership for a very new, young team.”
Thompson appeared in 70 games with 25 starts during his two seasons competing at Virginia, shooting 48.2 percent from the field and 36.5 percent from 3-point range.
He averaged 6.2 points, 2.2 assists and 1.6 rebounds during the 2016-17 season and scored 10-plus points in nine games. He matched a Virginia record with eight consecutive made 3s during a seven-game stretch dating back to the 2015-16 campaign.
The Cavaliers went a combined 52-19 during Thompson’s two years of competition with two NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2016.
Thompson sat out the 2014-15 season at Virginia after transferring from Tennessee, where he started 10 games and appeared in all 37 as a freshman during the program’s run to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
He averaged 2.6 points, 2.4 assists and two rebounds for the Volunteers, while posting a 2.56 assist-to-turnover ratio in 16.8 minutes per game. Thompson led Tennessee in steals (36) and ranked second in assists (87).
The guard was rated as the nation’s No. 4 overall combo guard coming out of Blackman High School in Murfreesboro. Thompson was a winner in college, with every team he played for winning at least 23 games, and Blackman was no different with a 56-5 record over his last two seasons.
He was a 2013 Tennessee Class AAA Mr. Basketball finalist, a TSWA Class AAA all-state, all-region and all-district performer each of his last two seasons, and a McDonald’s All-American nominee.