The Cowboys pulled a 15-point-per-game scorer from the Atlantic 10.
La Salle transfer Khalil Brantley on Friday announced his commitment to Oklahoma State. A 6-foot-1, 175-pound junior for the Explorers this past season, Brantley averaged 15 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.2 assists a game.
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If Brantley’s name sounds familiar, it might be because he was on OSU’s radar coming out of high school. Mike Boynton offered Brantley, a fellow New Yorker, a scholarship back in April of 2020. Brantley averaged 34.2 points, nine rebounds and four assists a game as a high school junior at Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn before transferring to Our Savior Lutheran in the Bronx as a senior. He ended up committing to La Salle over offers from Creighton, Georgetown, Seton Hall and others. He has been with the Explorers since.
Brantley made an instant impact as a freshman during the 2021-22 season, playing in 29 games and making four starts. He averaged eight points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.6 assists a game as a freshman.
He then took a big step forward as a sophomore, making 30 starts and playing in 32 games where he averaged 14.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists a game. His 3-point percentage took a jump, as well, going from 27% as a freshman to 34% as a sophomore. He shot 33% from 3 this past season.
Brantley was a volume scorer for La Salle, as this past season he led the Explorers in scoring while shooting 81 more shots than his next closest teammate. But Brantley also did that while wracking up 137 assists, the second-most on the team. He also led the Explorers in steals and was third in rebounds despite his 6-1 stature. He was also La Salle’s leading scorer as a junior, a season in which he also led his team in assists, steals and was second in rebounds.
Brantley has scored 20 or more points a dozen times in the past two seasons. He put up a career-high 30 against Southern Indiana this past season. He has three career double-doubles, including a 29-point, 14-rebound game against Temple this past season.
Brantley ought to provide the Cowboys a scoring punch (which I put on a wishlist) but still seemingly fits the mold of do-it-all guards new OSU coach Steve Lutz seems to be after.
Brantley is the seventh portal addition Lutz has added since taking over in Stillwater, joining Arturo Dean (FIU), Robert Jennings II (Texas Tech), Marchelus Avery (UCF), Davonte Davis (Arkansas), Brandon Newman (Western Kentucky) and Abou Ousmane (Xavier). That brings OSU’s available scholarships down to only two.
Read this original article at Pistols Firing Blog.