In October of 2022, the name Keanu Dawes was well known among fans of the BYU and Utah basketball programs, as Dawes was considered an elite recruit, lived in the Beehive State until he moved to Houston when he was 9 and was considering signing with either the Cougars or Runnin’ Utes.
Dawes, however, decided to stay in Houston and committed to play for the Rice Owls, becoming the highest-rated recruit to ever join the program.
After just one season with the Owls, though, Dawes has entered the transfer portal, multiple outlets reported Monday. (While Dawes didn’t announce the news himself, he shared reports of it on his social media pages.)
The move comes as Rice fired head coach Scott Pera and hired former SMU coach Rob Lanier to replace him.
In his lone season with the Owls, the 6-foot-9, 215-pound Dawes played in all 32 of his team’s games, starting 23 of them. He averaged 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds in 23.6 minutes per contest.
When Dawes announced his commitment to Rice, he was also considering five other schools: BYU, Utah, Texas A&M, Texas and Oklahoma State.
Dawes is the nephew of Derek Dawes, who played at BYU after prepping at Cottonwood High in Salt Lake City.