What WSU coach Paul Mills said about Wichita State basketball’s 2024 recruiting class

Guard help is on the way for the Wichita State men’s basketball team, which saw two highly-rated high school seniors ink their national letters of intent to play for the Shockers this past week.

Wichita Heights star T.J. Williams, a 6-foot-5 wing, picked WSU over Missouri and Iowa, while Houston native Zion Pipkin, a 6-foot-1 guard who plays for former Shocker P.J. Couisnard at Legacy School of Sport Sciences, became the first top-150 signing for first-year WSU head coach Paul Mills.

Here’s what Mills had to say about both of WSU’s recruits in the class of 2024.

“Zion was a player we targeted early in this process due to his competitiveness, playmaking and scoring,” Mills said in a statement. “He is a complete package at the guard position. He can defend the entire court and he has the playmaking ability to score on any matchup he is faced with during the course of the game. Shocker fans will love all that Zion brings to the court and his teammates will love the value he provides on both sides of the ball.”

“I am ecstatic that T.J. will be playing his college basketball in Wichita,” Mills also said in the statement. “He has had a sensational high school career in Wichita and I anticipate that his contributions collegiately will result in many memorable moments as well. He has offensive and defensive versatility that is unique to his skill set and size and that will allow him to make the transition to college basketball quicker than most typical freshman. We are excited that one of Wichita’s own will make his college debut in a Shocker uniform.”

Both players will complete their senior years of high school before joining WSU’s roster for the 2024-25 season. The Shockers currently have one additional scholarship remaining in the 2024 recruiting class, although that can always change with the transfer portal following this season.

Pipkin is the 10th-rated player in Texas and the No. 148-ranked player in the class of 2024 by 247Sports. He picked the Shockers over Colorado in his final decision.

Meanwhile, Williams averaged 16.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.2 blocks last season at Heights while leading the Falcons to their second straight trip to the Class 6A state championship game. He won a state title as a sophomore and has been a two-time all-state selection in his career.