Texas Basketball: 3 best big men available in the portal early this offseason

K.J. Williams, PF/C

It became clear down the stretch this season, especially without former UMass star big man Tre Mitchell in the lineup, that the frontcourt was lacking a real solid presence against some opponents with stronger bigs. Texas was relying on more undersized players in the frontcourt, such as senior forwards Christian Bishop and Timmy Allen, as the anchors down low.

In fact, Allen and Bishop played a good portion of their minutes from last season at the five.

Texas needs to get a more sizable and established big to play at the five next season. More specifically, Texas is going to need more size to give them more of a force in terms of rebounding and rim protection next season.

This is where it could make sense for the Longhorns to nab a commitment out of the transfer portal this offseason from the standout former Murray State Racers 6-foot-10 and 245-pound senior power forward/center K.J. Williams.

At 6-foot-10 and with a wingspan north of seven feet, Williams could give Beard and the Longhorns a more sizable presence in the paint than they had for most of last season. He’s also a versatile scorer that could help the Longhorns avoid some of the long scoreless stretches they faced in quite a few games down the stretch last season.

Williams also looks like a good fit with what Beard is trying to build with this program. He’s a versatile two-way big man that has a lot of fight down low and rebounds the ball well. That is evident by the fact that he was named the Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year last season by averaging around 18 points per game and 8.5 rebounds.

Texas would do well to add a big man like Williams out of the portal to boost this frontcourt unit ahead of next season.