Big Sky MVP Steele Venters to transfer from Eastern Washington
Four years ago, when Steele Venters signed on to join the Eastern Washington men’s basketball team, he was accepting an offer from the only Division I program to extend one to him.
Just a couple of hours after entering his name in the transfer portal on Friday morning, Venters had heard from at least a dozen Division I programs.
“It’s been pretty crazy,” Venters said.
Poised to graduate from Eastern Washington in June, Venters – the reigning Big Sky Most Valuable Player – said he is moving on from the Eagles program as a graduate transfer. He also said he will be declaring for the 2023 NBA draft while maintaining his college eligibility. He has two such years left.
“I felt it’s best for me to get to the next level,” Venters said. “I want a new challenge and a new setting.”
The 6-foot-7 Venters led the Eagles in scoring and 3-point shooting each of the past two seasons. He averaged 15.3 points per game this most recent season while making 78 of 210 3-pointers (37.1%).
With 1,130 career points, Venters ranks 18th on Eastern’s all-time scoring list. His career free-throw percentage of 85.9 is also the best in program history, and his 168 made 3-pointers rank eighth.
“(EWU head) coach (David) Riley has given me everything I could have ever wanted in a program,” Venters said. “It was a super tough decision for me and my family because Dave has been so good to me, and he’s always had my best interest at heart.”
Venters, who graduated from Ellensburg High School in 2019, started all 34 games as the Eagles won a regular-season Big Sky title and rattled off a program-record 18-game winning streak. He scored at least 20 points in eight games, including a season-high 33 against North Dakota State on Dec. 3.
The No. 1 seed in the Big Sky Tournament, Eastern lost its first-round game to Northern Arizona, denying the Eagles a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament.
They did, however, earn a spot in the National Invitation Tournament and became the first Big Sky team in two decades to win a game at the event by beating Washington State in the first round.
Venters’ final game with the Eagles was their 71-60 NIT second-round loss to Oklahoma State on March 19, when he scored a season-low two points on 1-of-10 shooting from the field.
Venters said that one reason he wants to play in a bigger conference is to show he can defend at a higher level.
He also said he is looking for the “right situation, the right fit and the right playing style that is open and free, where I can still go (score).”
Venters said he had heard from teams in conference such as the West Coast, Pac-12, SEC, Big East and SEC. He said he had not determined a timeline for making his decision.
Venters is the second Eastern Washington player to enter the transfer portal this week, following Imhotep George, who did so on Tuesday. George, though, played 35 minutes this season, second fewest on the team. Venters (at 31.4 per game) played the second most behind Angelo Allegri, who has exhausted his eligibility.
Allegri was also second on the team last season in scoring at 13.5 points per game. The combination of his departure and that of Venters leaves the Eagles to replace about one-third of their scoring from last season. Allegri was the Eagles’ lone senior.
Earlier this week, Riley said he would hold meetings with every player next week after they return from EWU’s spring break.
“It is important to get a mental reset after a season like that,” Riley said.