SAN DIEGO – Wayne McKinney III, a guard who averaged 13.5 points per game last season, has signed a Grant-in-Aid and will compete for San Diego State's men's basketball team in the 2024-25 season. Head men's basketball coach Brian Dutcher made the announcement Friday. McKinney has one season of eligibility as he arrives on The Mesa.
"With the loss of Lamont Butler and Darrion Trammell we need to add another playmaker to our roster," Dutcher said. "Wayne came to San Diego State to win at the highest level. He is very productive at the offensive end of the floor and plays the kind of defense that is extremely valued by our coaching staff."
McKinney III, who graduated from Coronado (Calif.) High School, has competed at the University of San Diego (USD) for the past three seasons and averaged 9.2 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 26.6 minutes per game for the Toreros.
He has scored in double figures in 40 of his 93 college contests, including a career-high 31 points at Pacific on Feb. 10, among 26 double-digit scoring games in 2023-24. In 18 games, he has dished out at least four assists and his team was 15-3 in those contests, while when he grabs as a minimum of four rebounds, 34 times, the Toreros went 25-9.
Last year, as a second-team All-West Coast Conference (WCC) performer, he had his most productive college season. He started in each of his 32 appearances and led the team in minutes (962), assists (93), and steals (43), each career-highs. In addition, the junior's 432 points, a career-best, ranked second on the Toreros as did his points per game. He led the squad in scoring in eight games, assists in 15 contests, and in rebounds five times.
As a sophomore, he appeared in 30 contests, which included 24 starts. He averaged 7.4 points and 2.5 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He paced the team in steals (34), and standing 6-0, led it in blocked shots (13), which included a career-best three block effort against UC San Diego on Dec. 12, 2022. McKinney III led the Toreros in assists six times, in scoring twice and in rebounds once.
In his freshman season of 2021-22, he earned inclusion on the WCC All-Freshman Team after appearing in each of the team's 31 games which included 20 starting assignments, the most for any freshman in the program that year. He averaged 6.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals in 24.1 minutes per game. McKinney III was the only player in the WCC, who stood 6-0 or less, to score at least 200 points, grab at least 80 rebounds while shooting at least 43.0 percent from the field. He led the team in assists (54) and steals (33) and despite his height, was the fourth-leading rebounder (84) and its fifth leading scorer.
McKinney III competed for Coronado High School in 2019-20 and 2020-21. In his senior campaign, he was named first-team CIF San Diego Section and Division IV Player of the Year in California by CalHiSports.com after leading the Islanders to a 24-5 record, including 8-0 in league play. He averaged 22.9 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.3 steals. As a junior, he averaged 28.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.6 assists per outing and was named the City League Player of the Year. He started his high school career at Lake Oswego (Ore.) High School and in two seasons the team posted a 44-11 overall record, including 24-2 in league play and he was a first-team All-Three Rivers League honoree following his sophomore campaign.