Five Things to Know: Khamari McGriff

Pronunciation Guide

Khamari McGriff > Kuh-MAR-ee

Today we continue a series of "Get to Know" features on the newest members of the 2025-26 Kansas State men's basketball team. We continue with senior transfer wing Khamari McGriff (Tallahassee, Fla./James S. Rickards/UNC Wilmington), who is one of 10 newcomers, and five Division I transfers.

Head coach Jerome Tang recently announced the 14-member team, which can be reviewed here.

McGriff's complete bio can be viewed here.

McGriff has been a part of high-level winning programs since high school.

McGriff comes from a long line of winning programs, starting at famed Rickards High School in Tallahassee, Fla., and continuing the last 4 seasons (2021-25) at UNC Wilmington. He was part of the 2020 Class 5A State Championship team at Rickards as a junior, helping the Raiders to a 21-7 record. The high school has won state titles and advanced to six Final Four appearances. He enrolled at UNCW in 2021 where he was part of 99 wins under head coach Takayo Siddle, which included three Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) Championships (two regular-season titles in 2022 and 2025 and a tournament crown in 2025), a College Basketball Insider (CBI) Tournament championship in 2022 and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025.

This past season, McGriff averaged double figures (11.5 ppg.) while helping the Seahawks to both the conference regular-season and tournament championships. The team posted a 27-8 overall record en route to losing to Big 12 member Texas Tech, 82-72, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

McGriff was one of the top sixth men in the CAA at UNC Wilmington.

After starting 30 of 31 games as a sophomore in 2023-24, McGriff developed into one of the top sixth men in the CAA at UNC Wilmington last season, starting the first 12 games before coming off the bench in the last 22 games. He nearly tripled his scoring average from 3.8 to 11.5 points from his sophomore to junior seasons, as he led the Seahawks in field goal percentage (65.1) and field goals made (164) while he was second in scoring and blocked shots (1.2 bpg.), third in offensive rebounds (53) and fourth in rebounding (4.0 rpg.).

In addition, McGriff was named to the All-CAA Tournament team after averaging 11.7 points on 63.2 percent (12-of-19) shooting with 5.3 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in wins over Hampton, College of Charleston and Delaware en route to the tournament championship.

McGriff scored in double figures in 22 games, including a season-best 34 points at Howard on Dec. 14, 2024, on 14-of-16 field goals. Among his double-digit scoring games was a team-high 18-point performance in a loss to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse on Nov. 14, 2024. He also collected his first career double-double vs. Georgia Southern on Nov. 8, 2024, with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

McGriff has made steady progress capped by his junior season in 2024-25.

McGriff played in just 2 games in his first season at UNC Wilmington, scoring 5 total points, before playing in 18 games as a redshirt freshman and averaging 1.4 points and 0.9 rebounds in 2022-23. He made a jump as a sophomore in 2023-24, playing in 31 with 30 starts, while averaging 3.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. He then averaged double figures (11.7 ppg.) last season, while leading the Seahawks in field goal percentage (65.1) and blocked shots (39).

McGriff has scored more than 500 points (539) in his college career, connecting on 67.9 percent (224-of-330) from the field and 67.4 percent (89-of-132) from the free throw line. He has also totaled 261 rebounds, 70 blocks and 25 steals in 1,279 minutes played.

McGriff played at UNC Wilmington in the CAA.

McGriff played in 85 games with 42 starts in his 4 seasons (2021-25) at UNC Wilmington, which is one of the winningest programs in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) with a .684 winning percentage (54-25). The league includes the likes of Towson, College of Charleston, William & Mary and Monmouth. He was coached by Takayo Siddle, who has led the Seahawks to 106 wins, including 54 in league play, to go with 7 conference titles since being hired in 2020-21.

McGriff played against current teammate Abdi Bashir Jr. while he was at UNCW and Bashir was at Monmouth. The Seahawks won their only meeting, 64-55, in 2025.

McGriff was a multiple sport athlete in high school.

McGriff was a multi-sport athlete at Rickards High School in Tallahassee, Fla., where in addition to starring on the basketball court he also competed in both the high jump and long jump and was an all-state swimming as a freshman and sophomore.

McGriff averaged a double-double (16.8 ppg. and 11.4 rpg.) on the basketball court as a senior in 2020-21 while he narrowly missed the school's first triple-double as a junior in 2020 during their run to the state championship with 9 points, 11 rebounds and 9 blocks in the state semifinals.

Season tickets for the 2025-26 season went on sale June 10 with a variety of ticket options. Fans can purchase tickets by calling toll free at (800) 221.CATS (2287) and/or online at www.kstatesports.com/tickets.

How to follow the 'Cats: For complete information on K-State men's basketball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Abdi Bashir Jr.

Khamari McGriff

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