EWU transfer LeJuan Watts announces commitment to Washington State

PULLMAN – Washington State coach David Riley has landed a second player from his former team.

Eastern Washington transfer LeJuan Watts has committed to WSU, he announced on social media on Thursday, becoming the second former Eagle to follow Riley to WSU.

Watts, last season’s Big Sky Newcomer of the Year as a redshirt freshman, averaged 9.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game for EWU’s regular-season championship team. A 6-foot-6 wing, Watts also shot 40% from beyond the arc, but on about one attempt per game.

Watts – no relation to rising sophomore guard Isaiah Watts – joins former EWU center Ethan Price, who announced his commitment on Tuesday, as former Eagles to become Cougars. It gives WSU two players to replace the 10 who have hit the portal this offseason, including four who have found new homes, most recently former center Rueben Chinyelu, who announced his commitment to Florida on Thursday.

A Fresno, California, native, Watts scored in double figures on 14 occasions last season, including a career-high 21 points in an overtime win over Montana State. In one stretch, a nine-game EWU win streak, Watts also scored in double figures in three of four games. He sank multiple 3-pointers on two occasions.

With three years of eligibility remaining, Watts figures to provide the Cougs with much of what he did the Eagles – sturdy, versatile defense, efficient scoring (his offensive rating of 120.7 ranked 11th in the Big Sky) and reliable rebounding (he ranked in the conference’s top 20 in both offensive and defensive rebounding rate).

Watts also comes from a sports-heavy lineage. His father, the late Walter Watts, played basketball for Utah under Rick Majerus and was the team’s second-leading scorer and rebounder on the 1991 Sweet 16 team. His sister, Brea, played basketball at Colorado, and his brother, Walter, played football at Utah.