LAWRENCE — Zeke Mayo made a name for himself playing college basketball at South Dakota State.

Mayo helped lead the program to multiple NCAA tournaments, with multiple Summit League regular season and tournament titles along the way. He emerged as one of the conference’s best players, with multiple appearances as a first-team honoree. This past season, he was even named its player of the year.

But this upcoming season Mayo, a native of Lawrence, Kansas, is going to be competing for the Kansas Jayhawks. After electing to transfer from South Dakota State, he chose to commit to and sign on with KU. Letting Kansas’ coaching staff know he wanted to come home served as a surreal moment for him, and earlier this month he reminisced on the first time he could remember putting on a Jayhawks jersey.

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“I was so young I probably couldn’t even tell you, probably around four or five years old,” Mayo said. “But when I put on that jersey for the photo shoot it was crazy. I looked over at my mom and she was smiling, almost had tears coming out of her eyes.”

Kansas coach Bill Self said the recruiting approach not just for Mayo, but all of the transfer portal commitments the Jayhawks have earned during the offseason, centered on finding the right fits. That included considerations both for how they fit into how the roster looked overall, and for what was possible from a name, image and likeness (NIL) standpoint. It became obvious in time Mayo was someone they should bring in.

Mayo, who’s looking forward to developing over the course of the summer, said he wants to become stronger and faster. He also wants to improve as a defender. He already provides the Jayhawks with someone who’s showcased an ability to hit 3s at a high rate and score points at a high level, considering this past season he connected on 39.1% of his 3s and averaged 18.8 points per game.

Mayo considers all of the guards Kansas has as complimentary. He’s eager to play with someone like Dajuan Harris Jr., the Jayhawks’ veteran point guard who Mayo said is a great passer and someone whose intelligence is impressive. There’s also veteran center Hunter Dickinson back for next season, and the attention Dickinson draws isn’t the only thing Mayo thinks can be a bonus for him and the team.

“Not only will it help us, but it will also help him,” Mayo said. “He’s going to have more space to work down there, but when he feels pressure he can kick out to us and re-seal, get it right back or give it to us for us to knock down shots.”

Of course, regardless of the advantages Mayo possesses he will still have to compete for playing time. The transfer portal class he’s a part of includes the likes of Wisconsin guard AJ Storr, Alabama guard Rylan Griffen and Mississippi State guard Shakeel Moore. There’s also a promising freshman guard who’s arrived in Rakease Passmore.

Mayo, though, gave no indications of backing down from that competition. Speaking prior to Moore’s commitment and signing, Mayo talked about how all of the talent on the team fit with Kansas’ status as a program. Time will tell what part he has in the rotation when the season tips off.

“It just lets me know KU is — we have a standard here and we want to win,” Mayo said. “So, we’re going to try to get the best players to compete at the highest level.”

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Lawrence native Zeke Mayo enjoys chance to play for Kansas basketball