Mizzou basketball lands 2018 commitment from UIC transfer K.J. Santos

K.J. Santos, who played small forward at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, spent last season at Illinois-Chicago.

He’ll spend the upcoming season at Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College.

After that, Santos — a consensus three-star high school prospect in the 2016 class — will transfer to Missouri.

Santos announced his verbal commitment to the Tigers via Twitter on Monday, becoming the third known recruit in the 2018 class.

Originally from Geneva, Ill., Santos is a 6-foot-8 wing, who had some high-profile offers — Georgia Tech, Iowa, Oklahoma, Penn State, Rhode Island, Tulsa, VCU, Wake Forest, West Virginia, Wichita State and Xavier among others — as a prep player.

He recently had been offered by Texas Tech and South Florida in addition to the Tigers.

As a freshman with the Flames last season, Santos averaged 7.1 points and 4.2 rebounds in 35 games, including 30 starts.

Santos played for the Puerto Rico Under-17 National Team and was invited to play for the full national team earlier this month.

Santos joins Jontay Porter — who technically remains a member of the 2018 class, pending a decision about graduating early and reclassifying that is expected this week — and Javon Pickett in Cuonzo Martin’s second recruiting class at MU.

Pickett was committed to Illinois until this spring and plans to attend prep school for one year before enrolling at Mizzou next year.

This story was originally published July 31, 2017 at 9:48 PM with the headline "Mizzou basketball lands 2018 commitment from UIC transfer K.J. Santos."