Oklahoma State Among Top 8 for St. John’s Transfer Big Man Tariq Owens

Oklahoma State is among the eight schools that St. John’s transfer Tariq Owens is considering, according to Evan Daniels of 247Sports.

Owens, a 6-foot-11 big man, was granted his release from the program this week and will be available on the market as a graduate transfer.

St. John’s transfer Tariq Owen is down to Maryland, Oklahoma State, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas Tech, Western Kentucky, ODU & VCU.

— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) March 23, 2018

Owens averaged 8.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the Red Storm this past season, making 26 starts in 33 games. He shot better than 50 percent from the floor, too, in playing more than 30 minutes per game.

Fishing from the St. John’s transfer bucket isn’t a new thing for Oklahoma State, which landed current center Yankuba Sima as an undergraduate last year.

The potential addition of Owen would be a boon for Mike Boynton in padding the loss of Mitch Solomon. Although Sima will have another year under his belt, Lucas N’Guessan has yet to prove capable of rotation minutes in the Big 12, and freshmen Yor Anei and Duncan Demuth likely won’t be ready to contribute at a level needed to compete in a way Owens could.

Owens, a top 200 recruit coming out of high school, actually started his career at Tennessee, where he played 28 games and averaged 1.2 points and 1.1 rebounds as a freshman in 2014-15.