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  • Kansas State Inks A McDonald's All-American With Signing Of Arkansas Transfer Baye Fall

Kansas State Inks A McDonald's All-American With Signing Of Arkansas Transfer Baye Fall

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Basketball

Rising sophomore Baye Fall (Dakar, Senegal/Accelerated Prep [Colo.]/Arkansas) became just the fifth McDonald's All-American to sign a Financial Aid Agreement with Kansas State, as head coach Jerome Tang made a splash with the first big addition to his 2024-25 front court.

The 2023 McDonald's All-American is the first such honoree to ink with the Wildcats and the first since Wally Judge in 2009. The others include Tom Freeman in 1977, Deryl Cunningham in 1991 and Michael Beasley in 2007. Fall is the second McDonald's All-American to join via transfer following Cunningham who came from DePaul.

A 6-foot-11, 215-pound wing originally from Dakar, Senegal, Fall arrives at K-State after one season (2023-24) at Arkansas, where he saw limited action in 9 games with 45 total minutes as a true freshman. He scored in 4 games, including a season-high 4 points in the opener against Alcorn State on Nov. 6, 2023, to go with season-bests in rebounds (4), blocks (2) and steals (2) in 9 minutes.

Fall is the fifth player to sign with the Wildcats for the 2024-25 season, including the fourth Division I transfer following Dug McDaniel(Washington, D.C./St. Paul VI Catholic VI/Michigan), Christian (C.J.) Jones(East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis/UIC) and Brendan Hausen(Amarillo, Texas/Amarillo/Villanova). The quartet join top-50 high school prospect David Castillo(Bartlesville, Okla./Sunrise Christian Academy [Kan.]), who signed on Nov. 8.

Fall became a 2023 McDonald's All-American as a senior at Accelerated Prep in Denver, Colo., where he averaged 13.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game as a senior. This came after playing his junior season at Denver Prep Academy, where he averaged 14.3 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. He began his high school career at Lutheran High School in Parker, Colo., leading the Lions to the 2021 Class 3A State Championship.

Accelerated Prep is an independent, faith-based program designed for college and NBA-bound athletes, which competes in the national basketball prep circuit known as The Grind Session. Fall starred for Accelerated Prep during the 2023 Grind Session, averaging 13.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and a team-high 1.7 blocks while playing in 9 games. He was selected to play in The Grind Session All-Star Game as well as the 2023 Nike Hoop Summit.

Fall played 13 minutes in the 2023 McDonald's All-American game on March 28, at the Toyota Center in Houston, where he had 2 points and 4 rebounds for the West squad that lost 109-106. He was joined on the West Team by Baylor's JaKobe Walter, Kentucky's Reed Sheppard and USC's Isaiah Collier.

Prior to his senior season at Accelerated Prep, Fall was a standout at the prestigious National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Top 100 camp in the summer of 2022 where he was named to the 10-player All-Star squad after leading the event in both scoring (14.9 ppg.) and rebounding (9.4 rpg.) in 7 games.

Originally from Senegal -- the westernmost country in continental Africa -- Fall came to the U.S. in 2018 at the age of 15 to pursue educational and basketball opportunities, eventually settling in the Denver area with his uncle and cousin. He started his high school career at Lutheran High School in Parker, Colo., where he led the Lions to the 2021 CHSAA Class 3A State Championship as a sophomore en route to earning Class 3A State Player of the Year, MaxPreps Colorado Player of the Year and First Team MaxPreps Sophomore All-American honors.

Fall earned MVP honors in the 72-56 win over top-seeded St. Mary's in the state championship, posting a near triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 6 blocks. He finished his sophomore season, averaging 22.1 points, 10.0 rebounds and 3.2 blocks per game while shooting 65 percent from the field.

The summer between his sophomore and junior seasons, Fall jumped onto the national scene at the 2021 Pangos All-American Top 30 Camp in Las Vegas, where he shared co-MVP honors.

Fall averaged a double-double as a freshman at Lutheran, averaging 19 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.8 blocks per game while shooting 67 percent from the field. He led the Lions to the Class 3A state quarterfinals en route to earning Class 3A Second Team All-State and MaxPreps Freshman Second Team All-American honors.

K-State was one of Fall's finalists coming out of high school, along Arkansas, Auburn, Colorado, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Texas, before he selected the Razorbacks.

Fall is fluent in 10 languages and dialects, including English, Spanish, French and German.

K-State finished the 2023-24 season with a 19-15 record, including a tie for ninth in the Big 12 with an 8-10 mark, and advanced to the NIT. Among the Wildcats' 19 victories were 4 over Top 25 teams, including 3 in the Top 10. The team has won 45 games in head coach Jerome Tang's tenure, including consecutive postseason appearances.