Syracuse has landed a big man from the transfer portal. After visiting on Monday, App State transfer Luke Wilson committed to the Orange on Tuesday, per his Instagram
Wilson is a 6 foot 9, 255-pound rising junior from Augusta, Georgia who played two seasons for head coach Dustin Kerns in Boone, North Carolina. In his sophomore season, he averaged 10.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, playing 28.1 minutes per contest. He also averaged 1.8 blocks per game, which led the Sun Belt, which earned him Sun Belt Defensive
Player of the Year honors.
During the second half of the season, Wilson was instrumental in App State’s push up the standings. The Mountaineers started Sun Belt play 4-4, but went on a seven-game winning streak, and pulled near the top of the standings over the final few weeks. He had three double-doubles during that streak.
While he did score more than 10 points per contest and did so on efficient shooting at 64.2%, he’s not much of an offensive threat outside of the paint. He’s a dunk machine, with 46 slams, ranking third in the Sun Belt, and it would’ve been eighth in the ACC, ironically one spot behind another former App State big, Wake Forest’s Tre’Von Spillers.
Spillers teamed up with Justin Abson at App State and had some vaunted defenses before they both moved on to the power conference level. Spillers had two excellent role player seasons for Wake, while Abson didn’t take on quite as much of a role, but still defended the rim at a high level for Georgia. This makes Wilson the third App State big in the last three years to leave for a high-major program.
Wilson joins a center rotation that features Malian 7-footer Abdramane Siby, who committed last week, as well as Siena transfer Tasman Goodrick. Returning forward Sadiq White also finds his way into the frontcourt mix. The Orange were reportedly also interested in FAU’s Devin Williams and UAB’s Evan Chatman, and had Creighton’s Owen Freeman on a visit before he committed to Auburn on Monday, in terms of the big man market.
In the backcourt and on the wings, Gerry McNamara’s first Syracuse roster has Garwey Dual, Ryan Moesch, Gavin Doty, Mark Morano Mahmutovic, Kiyan Anthony, and Aiden Tobiason.
The Orange still have three open spots on the roster.
