St. John’s offers 2018 four-star center Morris Udeze

The Red Storm have its eyes set on another 2018 big man.

Morris Udeze, a four-star recruit according to 247 Sports, received his first Big East conference offer on Thursday.

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound center is ranked among the top 10 recruits of 2018 at his position.

Aside from St. John’s, Udeze has over a dozen offers, with schools like TCU, Wichita State, Texas A&M, Illinois, New Mexico, FGCU, Fresno State, Iowa State, and Washington State in the mix.

This offseason, the Richmond, Texas native has been playing AAU Basketball with the Houston Defenders in the Under Armour Association.

Through 15 games with the Defenders, he averaged 9.1 points per game, 5.9 rebounds per game, 1.3 blocks per game, and shot 59 percent on the floor.

Udeze is a tough bruiser inside that is dangerous when he can find a rhythm in the post. He is a rim-rattling dunker and possesses great strength when finishing around the basket.

Defensively, he’s physical, tough, and can rebound. Udeze anchors the paint and doesn’t make it easy for opponents.

One drawback is his free throw shooting, where he can be a bit of a liability. He shot 50 percent from the line in the UAA.

St. John’s is in need of some bigs. With guys like Darien Williams, Yankuba Sima, and Richard Freudenberg gone, Chris Mullin and his staff need to replenish the front line, especially when they had no incoming freshmen bigs. The Red Storm does have transfer Sedee Keita coming in, but the more depth, the better they will be overall.