St. John’s basketball lands athletic Purdue transfer Aaron Wheeler

St. John’s basketball has landed athletic Purdue transfer Aaron Wheeler. 

After a day of upheaval with the St. John’s basketball roster with the additions to the transfer portal of Greg Williams Jr. and Marcellus Earlington, good news hit the Johnnies on Thursday afternoon.

Head coach Mike Anderson landed a commitment from Purdue transfer Aaron Wheeler.

https://twitter.com/_AaronWheeler_/status/1377653354332094465?s=20

Wheeler is listed as a 6-foot-9, 205 pound forward who redshirted in his first season with the Boilermakers but then had his best offensive season in 2018-19 with 4.7 points per game on 44.4-percent shooting from the field and 36.5-percent from three-point range.

As a redshirt sophomore, the Stamford, Connecticut native saw his numbers dip to 3.6 points per game but did pull down 4.2 rebounds per contest but his shooting numbers weren’t pretty at 25.7-percent from the floor and 21.6-percent from downtown.

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Despite the poor shooting numbers, Wheeler had a lot of clean looks for head coach Matt Painter that just didn’t go down but he would always have an impact on the game with his elite athleticism.

In his third season on the court, Aaron Wheeler posted 3.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game on 39.0-percent shooting.

What the Purdue transfer brings to St. John’s basketball

Clearly there are improvements for Aaron Wheeler to make on the court with his shooting percentages and decision making but he has the one quality that you cannot coach and that is his athleticism.

Wheeler is a rim runner with high upside and should thrive in the St. John’s up-tempo style of play.

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During his high school tenure at Brewster Academy (N.H.), Wheeler was recruited by Mike Anderson at Arkansas before committing to Purdue.

St. John’s now has four open scholarships remaining for the 2021-22 season, assuming sophomore star Julian Champagnie returns to school after declaring for the 2021 NBA Draft while maintaining his collegiate eligibility.

Aaron Wheeler is the second transfer to commit to St. John’s this offseason, joining Vermont’s Stef Smith.