MARION, Ind. — The Indiana Wesleyan University men’s basketball program recently added their fourth member to the 2017 recruiting class when Kansas University transfer Evan Maxwell signed his Letter of Intent to join the Wildcats.
Maxwell is a 6-10 forward and will begin his IWU career as a junior. He was a red-shirt at Kansas after two seasons at Liberty University.
“Evan’s desire to grow in a fearless mentality and ‘IAm3rd’ attitude allowed us to connect instantly,” said IWU head coach Greg Tonagel. “Evan has unlimited potential as a player and as a man, and his decision that IWU was the place where he would most likely reach that potential is exciting for us.”
Upon transferring, Maxwell chose the Jayhawks over scholarship offers from Arizona, Cincinnati, Baylor and Virginia Tech. He was part of a group that was ranked as the eighth best recruiting class in the country by Scout.
“What we saw in Evan was a young man that is very skilled,” Kansas coach Bill Self said upon Maxwell’s transfer. “He needs strength development that I think will come naturally. I think he will be a guy, barring any unforeseen things happening, that spends a ton of time in the weight room and will be playing against really good players in practice every day. He’ll learn how to be a go-to-guy offensively in practice and a guy that can give us a lot of added depth up front when he becomes eligible the next year. Evan had an opportunity to go to a lot of places and we feel fortunate that he chose Kansas.”
As a sophomore at Liberty, Maxwell averaged 10.0 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while shooting 63.6-percent from the field.
“Coach David Osborn brought Evan’s name to us a few weeks after he was hired and did a phenomenal job connecting us in the recruiting process,” said Tonagel. “We continue to strive to grow in all areas as a program and that includes the level of player we are able to recruit. Recruiting two Indiana All-Stars to IWU in this class shows that we are gaining credibility as an option across the state of Indiana. Getting a transfer from Kansas speaks volumes about our growing reputation as a program and University not only in Indiana, but across the country.”
Maxwell joins Kyle Mangas of Warsaw, Indiana, Grant Smith of Connersville, Indiana, and Michael Zitney of Jackson, Ohio in the four man recruiting class. Mangas and Smith were both selected to the prestigious Indiana All-Star team, and Zitney was on the Massillon-Jackson team that won the Ohio Division I State Championship.
This recruiting class joins a program that is losing a graduating class that won 126 games in four years, including two NAIA DII National Championships along with appearances in the Fab Four and Quarterfinals. This class included two NAIA All-Americans who scored over 2,000 career points.