Since he arrived in Bowling Green two springs ago, WKU head coach Rick Stansbury hasn’t stopped accumulating talent on the Hill. On Wednesday, Auburn graduate transfer Desean Murray became the latest player to commit to play for Stansbury and the Hilltoppers. 

{{tncms-inline account=”Debo13″ html=”<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I am proud to announce that I will be attending western Kentucky next year to finish off my last year! <a href="https://t.co/Ej3bCs1qMT">pic.twitter.com/Ej3bCs1qMT</a></p>— Debo13 (@desean_murray) <a href="https://twitter.com/desean_murray/status/989161861991010306?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 25, 2018</a></blockquote>” id=”https://twitter.com/desean_murray/status/989161861991010306″ type=”twitter”}}

Murray, a 6-3, 225 lb. guard, announced on Twitter that he will play his final year of eligibility at WKU. 

“We’re excited to add Desean to our program and family,” Stansbury said said in a press release. “He brings a wealth of experience from a winning program, and most importantly, he brings exceptional toughness, which is something we were looking to add.”

As a junior in 2017-2018, Murray led Auburn in rebounding at 6.7 rebounds per game to go along with his 10.1 points per game. His efforts helped the Tigers to a 26-8 record, a share of their first regular season SEC Championship since 1999 and their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2003. After earning a No. 4 seed in the Midwest region, Murray and Auburn lost to No. 5 seed Clemson in the second round. 

Murray transferred to Auburn from Presbyterian College of the Big South Conference and sat out the 2016-2017 season. He averaged 20.2 points per game, 7.4 rebounds per game and two steals per game in his sophomore year at Presbyterian.

Murray played a prominent role for the Tigers last season, logging 23.9 minutes per game and finishing fourth on the team in scoring.

Set to graduate in May, Murray will become another of Stansbury’s graduate transfers. Graduate transfers played a huge role in the Hilltoppers’ success last season, as former Virginia guard Darius Thompson led the team in assists, and former Kansas big man Dwight Coleby led the team in blocks.