After one season with the Baylor men’s basketball program, freshman guard Keyonte George declared for the NBA draft on Tuesday. The announcement came from his personal Instagram account.

George has been projected to be a lottery pick since his arrival on campus, but he’s been mocked as high as a top-10 selection in the 2023 NBA draft. It’s no surprise to see George decide on testing professional waters, as he was an anticipated one-and-done.

George, the 2023 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, was Baylor’s highest-ranked recruit in program history. He came in as the No. 3-ranked player in the 2022 class by ESPN. In his one year with the green and gold, he averaged 15.3 points per game, the second-highest scoring average on the team behind Adam Flagler (15.6 ppg).

The Lewisville native also averaged 4.2 rebounds per game and 2.7 assists per game.

He’ll go down as arguably the best freshman to ever play at Baylor, as he holds the program record for the most 20-point games (12) and 3-pointers made by a freshman (77). George also set a career-high with 32 points at WVU, the most by a freshman since LaceDarius Dunn had 38 at Texas Tech in March 2008.

When head coach Scott Drew gained George’s commitment to the green and gold, it marked Drew’s fifth McDonald’s All-American in school history. Drew spoke about George and the season he had after the team’s second round loss to Creighton on March19.

“I think he’s really grown,” Drew said. “When you come in as a freshman, you grow a lot off the court as well as on the court. And having LJ, Adam and great big brothers for him has really helped him, and Key is a fun teammate. The guys all really like him, and he wanted to learn from them. Really credit his growth too all around on and off the court because of the teammates he had and his willingness to grow.”

In addition to being the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, George was named to the Big 12 All-Freshman Team, Big 12 All-Newcomer Team, Second Team All-Big 12 and NABCAll-District Second Team. His 15.8 points per game in conference play was fifth-best in the league.

Twitter: @MichaelHaag_

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