KU coach Bill Self announced on Tuesday that former Mississippi State guard Shakeel “Shak” Moore, who committed to Kansas last Wednesday and registered on the NCAA men’s basketball transfer portal on April 3, has signed a financial-aid agreement with KU and will play for the Jayhawks in the 2024–25 season.
Moore, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound fifth-year senior from Greensboro, North Carolina, played three seasons at Mississippi State after starting his college career at North Carolina State in 2020-21. He has played in 124 games during his college career. “Shakeel is a combo guard who can play on and off the ball,” Self said Tuesday. “He’s a terrific athlete and we feel like he will be a nice complement to the personnel already on the roster. His experience and maturity should allow him to be a good fit here. He’s a tremendous young man that will graduate from Mississippi State this summer.” Moore, who started 22 games, averaged 7.9 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 33 games at Mississippi State a year ago.
He made 46.8% of his shots from the field, 36.3% of which came from three. Moore had double-digit scoring totals in 13 games, with his season-high 16 points coming on December 13, 2023, against Murray State. Moore was selected to the 15-player national Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Watch List during his junior year. He played his junior year at Mississippi State, averaging 9.8 points and 2.3 assists. Moore played 29 of the 34 games he started as a sophomore at Mississippi State, scoring 8.8 points on average. In his one and only season at N.C. State, 2020–21, he averaged 6.8 points. Moore has 1,042 points, 336 rebounds, 250 assists, and 170 steals in his career. On February, he scored 14 points on 4-of-4 shots.
“He gets his hands on a lot of balls.” During his senior campaign, Moore — who announced his transfer to KU just a few hours after KU revealed Elmarko Jackson would miss the entire 2024-25 season because of a knee injury — had multiple steals in eight games, third-best on the team. He finished the season with 28 steals, fifth-best on the squad that held opponents to 69.1 ppg. He had multiple steals in 41 of 99 career games with the Bulldogs. Of Moore’s offense, Jans told the SEC Network late in his junior year: “I tell him to shoot that thing, man. Shak’s got a killer shot fake. It’s like you got a toy at Christmas and it’s worn out by the New Year. He just uses it over and over, and it’s a really good one, but we need him to score for us, obviously. He’s gotten a lot more confident recently.” Moore heard from KU, Seton Hall, West Virginia, Wake Forest and others in recruiting. “He’s just grown up as a man,” Mississippi State teammate Cameron Matthews said of his Moore at last year’s SEC Media Days prior to the start of the season, as reported by hailstate.com.
“He’s grown more responsible in his handling of situations.” At the time, Jans stated, “He’s here representing us at Media Days for a reason.” He was selected to represent our university and program for a reason. Moore completed his final year of high school basketball at Moravian Prep in Hickory, North Carolina, after three seasons of play at Piedmont Classical High School in Browns Summit, North Carolina. Moore played on three consecutive state championship teams at Piedmont Classical: in 2016–17, 2017–18, and 2018–19. Twelve of KU’s scholarship players are on the 2024–25 squad, one fewer than the NCAA maximum of thirteen. If KU remains at 12, it will fulfill a self-imposed fine that cost KU three scholarships spread out over three years.
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