Bradley men’s basketball head coach Brian Wardle announced Wednesday the program added Danya Kingsby and Rienk Mast. Both will be in Peoria this summer for workouts.
Seven players are leaving the program this summer including three starters. The new signees will fill the role of two seniors, combo guard Luqman Lundy and stretch four Luuk van Bree. Kingsby, a 6-foot 1-inch guard, will step into Lundy’s spot in the rotation. Mast, a 6-foot 9-inch native of the Netherlands like van Bree, will fill his roster spot.
Kingsby comes to the Hilltop after sitting out a season due to a medical reason at LSU following a two-year junior college career at Southern Idaho. He will have two years of eligibility at Bradley. He was ranked No. 26 nationally among junior college players in 2018. Kingsby helped lead the Golden Eagles to the championship game of the National Junior College DI Tournament. He averaged 13.3 points and 3.7 assists and shot 45.8 percent from the field.
Wardle said he is looking forward to working with Kingsby although Bradley is actively seeking a medical waiver so that he can compete in 2019-20.
“Danya is an explosive combo guard that can score, play-make and really guard the dribble,” Wardle said. “He fills a need as a breakdown guard that can create his own shot and cause problems for the defense with his speed and quickness.”
Mast, a 17-year old, will join Bradley from Donar of the Dutch Basketball League. He averaged 9.1 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest. He converted 50.6 percent of his shots and 46.4 percent from beyond the 3-point line.
He helped lead Donar to the national championship in 2018 a year after competing for the Netherlands in the FIBA European Under-16 Championship Division B, a team that earned second-place in the tournament.
Wardle said he sees Mast making an immediate impact.
“Rienk is a very skilled and experienced forward for his age,” Wardle said. “He is physically college ready and understands the game beyond his years. He is also very versatile as he can shoot the three and score inside.”
The two players join four other signees: forward Stephan Gabriel, guard JaMir Price, forward Ville Tahvanainen and guard Antonio Thomas.
Seven letter winners return next year from a Bradley team that won Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the first time in 31 years and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
