Washington State Mens basketball and Head Coach Ernie Kent landed 6-10 center Valentine Izundu earlier Monday morning after it was announced that Izundu would transfer from the University of Houston and join the Cougars basketball program for the 2015 season.
Izundu who is out of Lamar Consolidated High School in Texas joined Houston in 2012 where he recorded 22 blocks in just 20 games while going 16-21 from the field in his first season. Izundu struggled after that and only played in 4 games in his sophomore year.
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Izundu is one of three players to be granted release from Houston so far after Houston hired former Washington State head coach Kelvin Sampson this year. Sampson was the head coach of Washington State from 1987-1994.
This is not the first time that Izundu has been granted release from the Houston program. After his freshman season he asked for permission to transfer and was granted release. A month later Izundu changed his mind and decided to rejoin the team.
New Head Coach Ernie Kent had been trying to get a big man for the Cougars but had talked about how there were not many left in the 2014 class so he would try to get one for the 2015 class. Which is what Izundu will be doing.
Because of NCAA transfer rules Izundu will be required to sit out this upcoming season but will have two years to play two seasons following the 2014-15 season.
The Cougars now have two commits for the 2015 class in Izundu and Jeff Pollard