Keyon Menifield Jr. and Other SEC Newcomers To Know

With SEC play beginning later this week, we should get familiar with the league and its contenders in the 2023-24 college basketball season. Several new faces are making significant impacts throughout the conference, including this week’s SEC Player of the Week, Keyon Menifield Jr., who won the award shortly after his mid-season debut at Arkansas. Menifield Jr. scored 32 points in his third game as a Razorback last Saturday.

The sophomore transfer from Washington is one of many newcomers to the SEC that Kentucky will soon face on its schedule. We should get to know him and the other names making a splash ahead of their first SEC competition. These new guys could cause problems for the Cats.

Keyon Menifield Jr. | Arkansas

We’ll start with Menifield because his surprise 32-point performance put him on the SEC map last weekend. Menifield, a 6-foot-1 point guard, made his first start in the Arkansas backcourt after missing the first 10 games of the season, awaiting an NCAA ruling on his eligibility. In his first starting role, the Washington transfer hit 8 of 14 shots from the field and 13 of 17 free throws to lead Arkansas past UNC Wilmington. He had five assists and four rebounds, too.

We'd call that an effective press break pic.twitter.com/iMhklNBlP7

— Arkansas Razorbacks Men’s Basketball 🐗 (@RazorbackMBB) December 30, 2023

The Flint, Michigan native is a difference-maker for Arkansas moving forward. The Razorbacks host No. 25 Auburn on opening Saturday.

Jimmy Bell Jr. | Mississippi State

A week before Menifield was named SEC Player of the Week, another Michigan native, Jimmy Bell, won the SEC’s weekly award. A transfer from West Virginia, where he started every game in 2022-23, Bell now does his post work for Mississippi State, and two days before Christmas, he had a 17-point, 18-rebound game against Rutgers.

For the season, Bell averages nine points and nine rebounds per game for the 11-2 Bulldogs. He is the SEC’s leading rebounder.

Bell and Kentucky’s Tre Mitchell graduated from West Virginia together last spring.

Walter Clayton Jr. | Florida

Kentucky opens the season in Gainesville this upcoming Saturday. In the opposing backcourt, the 2023 MAAC Player of the Year leads the Gators with 15 points per game. Walter Clayton Jr. starred at Iona and led our nation in free-throw shooting (.953) last season before transferring into Florida’s backcourt for his junior year. Rick Pitino tried to get his Iona star to follow him to St. John’s, but Clayton passed up the opportunity to play another year for the Hall of Fame coach for a move back to his home state, Florida.

Pullin up 👌

that assist by Walt 👀#GoGators | 📺ESPNU pic.twitter.com/9pUlYNwfAa

— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) December 30, 2023

Clayton isn’t the only transfer that Florida relies on. Four of the top five scorers made it to Gainesville through the portal.

Tyrese Samuel is another new Gator to know. He averages 14 points and 8 rebounds as a fifth-year senior after four seasons at Seton Hall.

Kentucky and Florida tip off at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Aden Holloway | Auburn

Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard and DJ Wagner have kept the SEC’s Freshman of the Week Award in Lexington for most of the season, winning twice each in the first seven weeks. However, one other SEC freshman has taken the rookie trophy twice this year: Auburn’s Aden Holloway, a top-25 prospect and McDonald’s All-American in last year’s graduating high school class. He was On3’s second-ranked combo guard in 2023.

Now, Holloway is Bruce Pearl’s starting point guard at Auburn, averaging 11 points and 4 assists per game. He takes care of the ball, too. Holloway’s 3.75 assist/turnover ratio is the 11th-best mark in the entire country.

Dalton Knecht | Tennessee

Tennessee found a diamond in the rough in transfer Dalton Knecht out of the University of Northern Colorado by way of Northeastern Junior College. The 6-foot-6 guard leads Tennessee with 15.7 points per game, including game highs of 37 against No. 17 North Carolina, 24 at Wisconsin, and 21 against No. 20 Illinois. He’s a top-10 scorer leaguewide.

Knecht is even in the midyear conversation for the Naismith Player of the Year award with anywhere from the fifth to the eighth-best odds on the board.

Grant Nelson | Alabama

Kentucky contacted Grant Nelson in the transfer portal last spring, but the former North Dakota State Bison and 2023 First Team All-Summit Conference selection ultimately decided on Alabama for his second home and fourth season in college basketball. A 6-foot-11 scorer, Nelson was named Preseason First Team All-SEC before playing a game for the Crimson Tide. Today, he is a top-20 scorer (14.15) and rebounder (5.69) through 13 games. He is also the SEC’s leading free-throw shooter with 48 makes on 52 attempts (.923).

Jaylen Murray | Ole Miss

Jaylen Murray, a 5-11 guard from the Bronx, is one of the reasons Ole Miss has not lost a game so far this year. Murray contributes 14.7 points per contest, the 12th-highest average in the league, while making 46 percent of his shots from outside, the fifth-best mark in the league.

If the name sounds familiar, it may be because Murray played two seasons for Saint Peter’s before transferring to Oxford. As a freshman, he hit both of his three-point tries in the first game of Saint Peter’s 2022 NCAA Tournament run, unfortunately, a win over Kentucky.

Kentucky hosts Ole Miss on Tuesday, February 13 in a 9 p.m. game at Rupp Arena.

B.J. Mack | South Carolina

A 6-foot-8, 270-pound forward, B.J. Mack made the short move from Wofford College to South Carolina for his last year of college basketball. At Wofford, Mack was an All-SoCon selection in 2022 and 2023, starting in 64 consecutive games across both seasons. He averaged 14 points and 5 rebounds over the course of his three seasons with the Terriers.

At South Carolina, the versatile Mack is the team’s second-leading scorer with, again, 14 points and 5 rebounds per game. His best South Carolina performance to date was a 27-point game against Grand Canyon a week after his first double-double of the season against VMI.