Iowa State enters the the 2014-2015 season without Melvin Ejim and DeAndre Kane, who were not only the team’s leading scorers, but also two of the top three rebounders for the Cyclones.
Junior forward Georges Niang, who missed the final two games of the season due to a broken bone in his foot, is back and in better shape. He’ll have to wait on frontline support, though, as transfer forward Jameel McKay had his waiver request denied by the NCAA on Monday. Chris Williams of CycloneFanatic.com was the first to report the news. Travis Hines of the Ames Tribune later confirmed Williams’ report.
McKay, a junior forward, will miss the first semester of next season, but will be eligible to play starting Dec. 20. The 6-foot-8 forward began his collegiate career at Indian Hills Community College (Iowa) before committing to Marquette in the summer of 2012. He enrolled at the university in the fall of 2013, but lasted only until October when he left the program. He committed to Iowa State on Nov. 5.
He will end up missing nine non-conference games, including a home contest against Arkansas, as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and an in-state rivalry game against Iowa on Dec. 12. Iowa State is also in the CBE Hall of Fame Classic field in mid-November. The earliest McKay could make his debut is Dec. 20 vs. Drake.
At Indian Hills, McKay averaged 16.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game during the 2012-2013 season.