On paper, it seemed like the right fit. The potential was there.
Brought in as an outside shooter and perimeter threat, Brian Amuneke never could find a solid role in the main rotation last season for Wichita State basketball.
Now — after one season in the black and yellow — Amuneke, a soon-to-be junior guard, will look for a fresh start. First reported by KWCH’s Tejay Cleland Tuesday morning, Amuneke has become the second Shocker to enter the transfer portal this offseason.
He joins guard Dre Kindell in the portal, who announced his decision March 27.
Amuneke will have at least two years of eligibility remaining.
His freshman season at Fresno State was encouraging.
Amuneke, a 6-foot-5 Los Angeles native, shot at a 42.4% rate from the floor and 40.7% from 3-point range. He averaged 7.7 points per game for the Bulldogs and scored 10 or more points in four of the last five games during the 2024-25 season.
Amuneke poured in a career-high 19 points against San Jose State in February 2025.
But Amuneke never carried that late-season form or found that same groove at Wichita State. He logged just 8.0 minutes a game to go with 2.4 points on average and didn’t play more than 19 minutes.
There were flashes of Amuneke’s potential at times throughout last season, however. He ended it by shooting 33.0% (29-of-88) overall and 33.3% (19-of-57) from deep.
Amuneke scored 11 points in three games over a month-long stretch from Nov. 28 to Dec. 21 and shot 4-for-7 from the field in each of those contests. He also drilled three 3-pointers in the first half against Memphis Jan. 24, helping push the Shockers to a 15-point win at Koch Arena.
“I appreciate the fact that he was not gun-shy. I thought those three threes in the first half kind of gave us a leg up,” head coach Paul Mills said after that game.
Now, Mills will have to find a new player with similar attributes. With Amuneke’s departure and Kenyon Giles — who made the most threes in a single season (125) — graduating, there is a clear void to be filled on the perimeter.
The Shockers will need to find more than a pure shooter before the portal closes April 21, as well. Kindell’s departure signals a need for more point guard play.
Assuming Emmanuel Okorafor doesn’t receive a medical hardship waiver, Wichita State will have five roster spots open with the NCAA’s new 15-player roster limit.
But Mills has already built a solid base to weather this cycle through core pieces that have been retained so far. The Shockers are set to return around 43% of last season’s minutes.
