MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State men’s basketball player Tyreek Smith has had his eligibility waiver denied by the NCAA, the school announced on Friday (August 22).
“We’re disappointed for Tyreek with this ruling by the NCAA,” said head coach Jerome Tang. “We wish they could’ve provided us better communication and transparency during this process and been more consistent with how the rules are applied as this process left both Tyreek and our program in limbo.
“We want to thank Tyreek for his contributions to our program the past eight months, and we wish him the best as he takes the next step in his basketball career. We are looking forward to continuing our preparations for the 2025-26 season.”
A 6-foot-8, 225-pound wing, Smith joined the Wildcats as a mid-season transfer in January. He had petitioned the NCAA for a fifth year of college eligibility after starting his career at Texas Tech in 2019-20. He received a medical redshirt as a true freshman before playing the 2020-21 season with the Red Raiders. He then played two seasons at Oklahoma State (2021-23) and one season at SMU (2023-24) before transferring to Memphis in 2024-25. He left Memphis before playing a game with the Tigers.
Smith scored more than 600 points in his 128-game college career, connecting on 60 percent (245-of-408) from the field to go with 490 rebounds, 129 blocks, 59 steals and 46 assists. His best individual season came in 2023-24 while at SMU, as he averaged 8.2 points on 58.4 percent (104-of-178) shooting with 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while playing in 33 games with 13 starts.
A native of Baton Rouge, La., Smith played his high school basketball for Trinity Christian in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, earning 2018 TAPPS 5A Player of the Year honors. He averaged a double-double as a senior in 2018-19 with 17.9 points and 12.3 rebounds to go with 3.0 blocks per game. He also received First Team All-State and district Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior.
