EKU’s new basketball coach lands his first recruit, and he’s a Lexington native | Lexington Herald Leader

Tre King, a 6-foot-8 forward out of Hargrave Military Academy, committed to Eastern Kentucky University’s men’s basketball program on Wednesday.

King, a Lexington native, announced his decision via Twitter. He became the first player to commit to the Colonels under newly-minted EKU Coach A.W. Hamilton.

Murray State, Marshall, Louisiana Tech, Old Dominion and St. Bonaventure were among the other schools that had offered King, who transferred from Lexington Christian Academy following the completion of his junior year.

SIGN UP

“He had a lot of higher major programs dancing around but no one really offering,” Corey Evans, a recruiting analyst with Rivals, told the Herald-Leader in a phone interview. Evans on Twitter called King’s commitment “one of the bigger coups of the spring.”

King’s ability to guard multiple positions at his size makes him valuable in modern college basketball, Evans said. It makes him a problem for opposing defenses, too.

“His ability to be that mismatch in the half-court offense as a face-up, small-ball power forward guy, that’s the way things are going now,” Evans said.

King as a junior was LCA’s second-leading scorer (16.3 points) behind then-freshman Kyle Rode and their leading rebounder (7.9). His athleticism, body and ball skills have improved considerably while at Hargrave, Evans said. He spent his senior season and a post-graduate year there, averaging 14.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and a team-high 2.9 steals during his final season in Virginia.

“Tre is going to flourish under Coach Hamilton, and I have no doubt that he will help lead them back to the NCAA Tournament in the years to come,”Hargrave Coach Lee Martin said in a news release.

Hamilton, a Georgetown native who played high school basketball at Scott County, was the head coach at Hargrave during King’s senior year with the program. He came to EKU after one season as an assistant coach at N.C. State. That played a “crucial” role in landing King.

“It just made too much sense. You have a kid who went to Hargrave and is from Kentucky,” Evans said. “It’s the best of both worlds really.”

Evans believes King will be an immediate contributor for the Colonels.

“He’s definitely one of the guys that can come in and be someone that impacts the program from day one and get EKU back to where it was a few years ago,” Evans said.