KU notebook: Jermaine Couisnard, another Chicago-area prospect, considering Jayhawks

Jermaine Couisnard, a 6-foot-4 combo guard out of East Chicago (Ind.) Central High School, who will be playing at Florida’s Montverde Academy during the upcoming 2017-18 season, is the latest blue-chip prospect from the Chicago area to place Kansas on his list of prospective colleges.

“He loves it. Kansas is his favorite school since he was a little guy,” Couisnard’s dad, Jermaine, said Wednesday in a Facebook message to The Star.

Couisnard, a cousin of former KU guard Elijah Johnson, attended KU’s Senior Night victory over Oklahoma on Feb. 27 at Allen Fieldhouse as part of an unofficial visit.

Couisnard will be playing for Chicago’s Mac Irvin Fire during the all-important recruiting month of July. He’ll be an AAU teammate of current KU target Ayo Dosunmu, a senior point guard from Chicago’s Morgan Park High School.

Dosunmu is a long-time friend of KU redshirt sophomore point guard Charlie Moore, a former standout with both Morgan Park and Mac Irvin Fire. Former Chicago Uplift Community High point guard and current KU commit Markese Jacobs, who is headed to Phoenix (Ariz.) Hillcrest Academy for his junior season, plays for Mac Irvin Fire’s 17-and-under team.

“I want to get better physically and mentally (at Montverde, the alma mater of Joel Embiid),” Couisnard told the Chicago Tribune. “This gives me a chance to work on my game.”

Couisnard — who is being recruited by KU, Baylor, Nebraska, Indiana, DePaul, Cincinnati and others — averaged 27.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists a game last season at East Chicago Central.

He noticed a surge in his recruitment after scoring 45 points against Evansville Bosse and 36 points against Indianapolis North Central in games played in the North Central Holiday Tournament Dec. 28 and 29 in Indianapolis.

“After the way I played down there, the interest got a lot higher,” Couisnard told the Northwest Indiana Times after being selected to the newspaper’s all-area team.

“The region’s leading scorer had an enormous winter, filling up score books at a dizzying pace. He will entertain on TV in coming seasons,” the NW Indiana Times wrote of Couisnard.

Couisnard’s former high school teammate, guard Damien Jefferson, recently transferred from New Mexico to Creighton.

Dosunmu will visit KU

Dosunmu, who is ranked No. 29 in the recruiting class of 2018 by Rivals.com, told Jayhawkslant.com that he has not yet set a date for an upcoming visit to KU.

He recently visited Illinois and has scholarship offers from the Illini ,KU, Marquette, Northwestern, Cincinnati, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, Missouri, Oklahoma State, St. Louis, SMU, St. John’s, Texas A&M, UNLV, Xavier and others.

“At the end of the day, I’m going to a school that I think is the best interest for me and I can play my game and play right away,” Dosunmu told Rivals.com. “My relationship with Charlie (Moore) is great. I’ve known him legitimately for 10 years. We’ll eventually talk about it.”

Wright, Lucas in summer league

Former KU forward Julian Wright scored six points on 2-of-4 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds while playing 18 minutes in his 2017 NBA summer league debut with the Utah Jazz — an 87-74 win over San Antonio on Monday in Utah Summer League action in Salt Lake City.

Wright, 30, played in Turkey and Italy last season.

Chicago native Wright, the No. 13 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, competed for New Orleans and Toronto his first four years as a pro and has been overseas ever since.

Former KU forward Landen Lucas, a free agent with the Boston Celtics, scored two points on 1-of-3 shooting and grabbed three rebounds with two assists, a steal and a turnover in Wednesday’s 81-70 loss to San Antonio in the Utah Summer League.

The 6-foot-11 Lucas had six fouls in 11 minutes. Players are allowed 10 fouls per game in the summer.

Lucas scored one point (1-of-2 from line; 0-0 from field) with four rebounds, one assist and one block while playing 10 minutes in his pro debut — Monday’s 89-88 Utah summer league win over Philadelphia.

This story was originally published July 5, 2017 at 10:37 PM.