OSU MBB Notebook: Recruiting and Another Assistant Coach Gone

STILLWATER – It’s been a busy week for Steve Lutz and his staff. They’ve signed a talented point guard out of the portal, they’ve been traveling all over the country recruiting high school talent and a few of them have found new jobs.

Starting with the transfer portal, UMass transfer point guard Jaylen Curry signed with the Pokes. He checks in at 6-0, 170 pounds and is coming off a solid sophomore season.

He averaged 14.2 points per game on nearly 37% shooting from the floor, 37% from 3-point game, with 3.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game. That helps replace the numbers lost by Arturo Dean entering the portal a few weeks back, who averaged 7.6 points per game with 3.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. 

Curry fills the 12th roster spot on, the seventh out of the commitment portal. 

Now, onto the 2026 class and the high school players, Robert Guster was north and south of Oklahoma as he visited top-40 prospect, Billy White III, out of Veterans Memorial out of Corpus Christi, TX. 

White checks in at 6-7, 175 pounds and is a four-star prospect in the ’26 class and is coming off a great junior season. He averaged nearly 19 points and 9.4 rebounds in 39 games. He also had nearly three assists and two blocks per game.

Then Guster made his way over to see another four-star forward, Aidan Chronister. 

Chronister checks in at 6-7, 170 pounds and is originally out of Rogers, AR, but will be playing his senior season with Sunrise Christian up in Wichita, KS. 

He’s listed as the No. 74 overall prospect in the 2026 class, the No. 27 SF and the No. 4 overall prospect out of Kansas, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.

As for the changes to the coaching staff, there are now two coaches who are on the move and will need to be replaced. Jeremy Cox is headed back to UTEP where he was prior to his one year in Stillwater.

Then it was reported on Thursday Mike Ekanem is headed to Houston to join Kelvin Sampson’s staff. 

I would expect replacements for both Cox and Ekanem most likely to be announced within the next two to three weeks as there are still a few roster spots left to fill out of the portal and with HS recruiting in full swing.