Former Mizzou, Santa Clara forward Parker Braun will transfer to KU basketball

Gary Bedore
·3 min read
7

Former Santa Clara basketball forward Parker Braun, the brother of former Kansas and current Denver Nuggets standout Christian Braun, has decided to transfer to KU, his mom Lisa confirmed to The Star on Tuesday afternoon.

The 6-foot-10, 215-pound Braun — who was a scholarship player at Santa Clara after being a walk-on for one season and scholarship player for two more at Missouri — has accepted a scholarship at KU.

He averaged 7.7 points and 5.8 rebounds a game last season for the Broncos.

Santa Clara went 23-10 overall and 11-5 in West Coast Conference play. The team advanced to the NIT in which it dropped a first-round game against Sam Houston.

Arkansas was one of several teams to contact Braun since he entered the transfer portal on April 25. According to Portal Report, he also was contacted by Saint Louis, BYU, Wichita State, Cal, Iona, Kansas City, South Carolina, Southern Illinois, Denver, Grand Canyon, SE Missouri, Arizona, Oral Roberts, Montana, Vermont and others.

Braun, a graduate of Blue Valley Northwest, hit 109 of 197 shots last season for 55.3%. He went 14-of-57 from three for 24.6%. He struggled at the line, hitting 21 of 45 free throws for 46.7%.

Braun started all 33 games and averaged 29.3 minutes per outing. He had 66 assists to 77 turnovers with 33 blocks and 15 steals.

Parker started his career at Missouri, where he played in 44 contests. He redshirted in 2018-19, then played the next two seasons for the Tigers, becoming immediately eligible upon transferring to Santa Clara.

Here’s a look at some of Braun’s performances last season.

He had 17 points and seven rebounds in a 71-62 home win over Cal on Dec. 18. He hit 8 of 9 shots and was 1 of 2 from the line that game. Braun also had 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting with four assists and two rebounds in an 89-85 road win over Wyoming on Nov. 30

Braun had 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting with five rebounds and three assists in an 89-79 road win over Pepperdine on Jan. 5. He had 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting with three rebounds and three assists in a 103-84 road win over Portland on Feb. 18.

In all, he scored in double figures in 11 games last season.

Braun averaged 11.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocked shots per game as a senior at Blue Valley Northwest High School. He helped Blue Valley Northwest capture the 2018 Kansas 6A state championship, finishing the season 21-4 on a 17-game winning streak. He shot 78% from the field and 43% from 3-point range as a senior.

A graduate of the Mokan Elite AAU program, he chose to walk-on at Mizzou over scholarship offers at LSU, Nebraska and Illinois. He earned a scholarship in May of 2019 at MU.

KU has two scholarships left to give in recruiting. The Jayhawks have lost eight players (Zach Clemence, Kyle Cuffe, Zuby Ejiofor, Cam Martin, Bobby Pettiford, MJ Rice, Ernest Udeh, Joseph Yesufu) to the NCAA transfer portal since the conclusion of the 2022-23 season. KU has added four players from that same portal: Braun, plus Hunter Dickinson (Michigan), Arterio Morris (Texas) and Nick Timberlake (Towson).

The 10 scholarship players currently on the 2023-24 roster include the four portal players plus incoming freshmen Marcus Adams, Elmarko Jackson, Chris Johnson and Jamari McDowell, as well as returning starters KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris.