STAFF REPORTS
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BUFFALO — University at Buffalo head men’s basketball coach Nate Oats has announced the addition of Montell McRae for the upcoming 2017-18 season. An athletic big man from South Plains Junior College, McRae will have two seasons of eligibility remaining for the Bulls.
McRae played for a South Plains team that went 32-2 and 16-0 in the WJCAC, known to be one of the toughest Junior College conferences in the country. The team was ranked #1 for the entire season, before finishing third at the National Tournament.
McRae, who is ranked #58 nationally amongst the best junior college players in the nation by JUCORecruiting.com, had 18 points in a 93-80 win over Odessa College and followed that up one game later by scoring 15 points on 7-of-8 shooting in a 104-78 win over New Mexico Junior College.
McRae hails from Cleveland, OH where he played his high school ball at Cleveland Central Catholic. He was named All-District Honorable Mention during his senior season where Cleveland Central Catholic finished as Division II state runner ups.
“We are ecstatic to get someone of Montell’s caliber into our program,” said head coach Nate Oats. “Montell has been a winner everywhere he has been, first at high school and then at the JUCO level. We knew we needed an athletic, skilled big man that could play above the rim and Coach Hodgson did a great job in getting us Montell McRae. He comes from the same junior college program as David Kadiri, and we looked forward to him giving us the same athleticism and energy these next two years that we got from DK.”
McRae joins a talented recruiting class that already features the #2 ranked player from JUCORecruiting.com in Jeremy Harris, as well as outstanding incoming freshmen James Reese and Jayvon Graves, who were both named players of the year in their respective states.