New KU basketball transfer has big goals: ‘Get better’ & ‘win a national championship’
After spending one year at Vanderbilt and one at Rice, Noah Shelby believes he’s found a home at the University of Kansas.
“I know this is going to be my last stop. Getting to play for coach (Bill) Self and be on one of the most talented teams in the country is exciting,” said Shelby, a 6-foot-3, 180-pound junior-to-be men’s basketball point guard/shooting guard from Dallas.
Shelby — he announced his commitment to KU on social media Sunday afternoon — joins the Jayhawk program with a good knowledge of Kansas basketball, His dad, Derrick, is a former standout at Osawatomie (Kansas) High School who went on to play at UT-Arlington. Shelby’s mom, Fannie, played volleyball at UT-Arlington.
“I have family in Kansas, (so) I went to some games and Late Night when I was younger,” Shelby said in a Sunday night phone interview with The Star. “I was able to visit there before (as a recruit in the Class of 2022). I know a lot about the team and coach Self is there. I wanted to go somewhere I can get better, win games, win a national championship.”
Shelby, a native of McKinney, Texas, averaged 3.7 points in 14 games his freshman year at Vanderbilt and 3.9 points and 1.0 rebounds a game in 2023-24 for the Rice Owls (11-21).
As a reserve at Rice, he hit 39 of 111 shots for 35.1%. He was 23-of-69 from 3 for 33.3%. He hit 17 of 20 free throws for 85.0%. He had 24 assists to 19 turnovers while averaging 11.9 minutes a game in 30 games (one start).
Shelby — he entered the transfer portal on April 9, had seven points and two steals against Texas on Nov. 15. He made his only career start against New Mexico on Nov. 22, scoring five points and grabbing a career-high four rebounds. He scored 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting versus UTSA. He had six points against No. 22 Florida Atlantic and hit three 3s and finished with 10 points versus Tulsa.
While still developing as a player, Shelby will redshirt in 2024-25 at KU, then have two years of eligibility remaining.
“I was going to redshirt no matter where I was going to go,” said Shelby. He received some interest from schools in the ACC, Big 12 and other conferences the past few weeks. Coming out of Greenhill School in Addison, Texas as the No. 82-ranked player in the class of 2022, he had offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Arkansas, Baylor, California, Georgetown, Memphis, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, SMU, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and others.
“I’ll get to practice against Dajuan Harris and other great players every day, which will help me. I will do whatever I can to help them, help the team,” Shelby said. “I know next year I want to help the team any way I can.”
His personal goals during a redshirt season in which he will practice but not play in games are “to get stronger, faster, better, learn how Kansas is.”
He said his strengths are probably being a “good shooter, (coming off the) pick and roll and defense.”
Shelby will be attending KU with fellow newcomer Rylan Griffen, a 6-5 junior-to-be from Dallas who played for Alabama the last two years.
“I’ve known him (Griffen) really well, since we were about 3, 4. I talk to him basically every day. He’s my best friend,” Shelby said. “The last time we played together was our last (AAU) tournament (while playing for Team Trae Young).”
Shelby also knows fellow Texans Zach Clemence and KJ Adams and played against newcomer AJ Storr in high school.
“I’m ready to get to work. Coach (Self) said to use the year to get better. I think it’ll be fun. Kansas is one of the most talented teams in the country and one of the deepest teams.”
The Star was told by a source that Shelby will start his KU career as a walk-on. His signing will not count against KU’s scholarship totals.
KU with the addition of portal transfers Griffen, Storr (Wisconsin) and Zeke Mayo (South Dakota State) as well as incoming freshmen Flory Bidunga and Rakease Passmore, currently has 12 scholarship players on the 2024-25 roster.
Teams are allowed 13 scholarship players in accordance with NCAA rules. KU has to have one under the limit on scholarship either this year or 2025-26 to complete self-imposed NCAA sanctions.
The players who are listed as returnees at this time are: KJ Adams, Zach Clemence, Hunter Dickinson, Harris, Johnny Furphy, Jamari McDowell and Elmarko Jackson.
Furphy has declared for the 2024 NBA Draft with the option of returning to school. He has until May 29 to remove his name from the draft if he wishes to play another season at Kansas.
