The complete overhaul of the Washington State men’s basketball roster has officially kicked off this week. David Riley and his staff have so far brought in five new players from the transfer portal this week.
Starting with point guard Lazerek Houston who arrives to the Palouse via Central Missouri, a division II school. Houston, who will be entering his sophomore year, led the Mules in scoring with 20.8 points per game, crossing the 30-point mark seven different times. He also dished out 5.1 assists per game. He was named to the D2CCA Second Team All-American and the NABC All-Central Region First Team. At a listed 6’0, 155 lbs., he’s a bit of a smaller guard, but still hauled in 4.1 rebounds per game and can clearly score at a high volume from all over the floor.
Advertisement
Up next is Fraser Roxburgh, a 6’7 forward coming from Manhattan but originally from Australia. Roxburgh, entering his junior season, spent the last two years at Manhattan, only appearing in 18 games his freshman year and all 31 games this past season. Roxburgh isn’t the volume scorer Houston is but can still fill up the stat sheet, topping out at 22 points against Saint Peter’s. Where Roxburgh does most of his work is on the glass. He finished as the 390th best player in defensive rebound percentage per KenPom and the 23rd best defensive rebounder in MAAC games. Now that’s not to say he can’t score at all; he finished amongst the top 25 players in the conference in efficient field goal percentage and true shooting percentage.
The third commit is RJ Jones. A former four-star high school recruit, Jones spent his freshman season at Kansas State, appearing in 28 games for the Wildcats in the 2023-24 season. Jones then entered the portal and went to TCU, roughly 40 minutes from his hometown of Denton, Texas. Jones didn’t play during the 2024-25 season and only appeared in nine games for the Horned Frogs this past season. He played 16 and 17 minutes in December against Florida A&M and Jackson State, respectively. He knocked down four threes against Florida A&M in a 14-point effort. The last of a good set of data we have on Jones comes from nearly three years ago, so it’s hard to determine how Jones will fit on this WSU roster.
Fourth up is Ronnie Harrison, a 6’8 power forward. Harrison comes from East Texas A&M and, prior to that, Tarleton State. Harrison was the focal point of the East Texas A&M team in the 2025-26 season, being the only player used on 24%+ possessions. He finished the season scoring 14.7 points per game and hauled in 6.1 rebounds. Harrison, like Roxburgh, was great on the glass, hauling in 20% of defensive rebounds and finished fifth in the Southland Conference in defensive rebound percentage. He was also great defensively in the Southland Conference, posting top 25 rates in block and steal percentages in conference games.
Finally, the latest addition is Sebastian Akins. Akins spent last season at Wake Forest, with former Coug Nate Calmese, and the 2024-25 season at Denver. Akins is listed as a 6’2 point guard and appeared in all 35 games for the Demon Deacons. He had a stretch of six games from the end of January to February where he was in the starting lineup. He also started two games in the ACC tournament. Despite his size, Akins isn’t much of a sharpshooter. He only took 50 three-point attempts and hit just nine of them. He’s more of a playmaker, assisting on 22.2% of Wake Forest’s field goals when on the court. His 22.4% rate in ACC games made him 15th best in that category in the conference. At Denver, Akins was one of the more used players in the country, being used on 29% of Denver possessions, and again was one of the better players in the country in assist rate.
Advertisement
There’s still plenty of work to do for Riley and his staff, but it’s a diverse set of talents so far. Some solid defensive rebounders in Harrison and Roxburgh, a playmaker in Akins, a volume scorer in Houston and perhaps some untapped potential from Jones.
For the outgoing transfers, only two players have found homes so far. Parker Gerrits will be with the Wyoming Cowboys and Rihards Vavers going to the Memphis Tigers.
