SAN DIEGO – Jaedon LeDee, a 6-9, 240-pound forward, has been inked to a Grant-in-Aid and officially becomes a member of the San Diego State men's basketball program, head coach Brian Dutcher announced today. LeDee will sit out the 2021-22 season and will be eligible to compete for the Aztecs in the 2022-23 season.
LeDee, a native of Houston, Texas, originally competed for Ohio State in the 2018-19 season, his freshman year. He then transferred to TCU and played for the Horned Frogs in each of the last two seasons.
In 79 collegiate games, LeDee has averaged 5.2 points and 3.1 rebounds in 11.0 minutes per game. He has gone 90-of-182 (79.5 percent) from the floor and 112-of-156 (71.8 percent) from the line. In addition, he has 15 assists, 21 blocks and 23 steals in 869 total minutes. Per 40 minutes played, LeDee averages 13.4 points and 10.2 rebounds.
In two years at TCU, he competed in 53 of the team's 58 games and made one start. LeDee averaged 4.1 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.2 minutes per game, had 20 steals, 15 blocks, and nine assists while shooting 53.3 percent (72-of-135) from the floor and 70.3 percent (71-of-101) from the line.
LeDee scored in double figures five times at TCU, with a career-high 20 points at West Virginia on 7-of-10 shooting and 6-of-8 from the free throw line. Twenty-four times he grabbed at least four rebounds, and in three of those games matched his career-high with eight rebounds.
As a freshman at Ohio State in 2018-19, LeDee played in 26 games and made two starts. He averaged 3.0 points and 1.7 rebounds in 6.6 minutes per game. His season highs include two 16-point games, grabbing eight boards and blocking four shots. For the season he shot 38.3 percent (18-of-47) from the floor and 74.5 percent (41-of-55) from the line.
As a high school senior, LeDee was a 247Sports.com four-star ranked player. The web site ranked him No. 5 in the state of Texas and No. 99 nationally. In addition, ESPN ranked him as a four-star talent, who was No. 59 among its top-100 high school seniors when he originally signed with Ohio State. He was a four-time All-Southwest Preparatory Conference selection at The Kinkaid School in Houston, and in his senior year averaged 27 points and 15 rebounds per game. As a junior, he was named the Large Private School Player of the Year by the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches after averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds per game. LeDee was also a multi-time honoree as an all-south zone performer.
After participating in the 2014 USA Men's Junior National Team minicamp, LeDee was named to the 2015-16 USA Basketball Men's Junior National Team. In addition, he attended the 2015 USA U16 National Team and 2016 USA U17 World Championship Team training camps.
Family members who have distinguished themselves in athletics include Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame inductee Willis Reed and former NBA player Orlando Woolridge as well as former four-time first team All-American, two-time Team USA medal winning Olympian and seven-time professional all-star softball player Natasha Watley.
This past season, the Aztecs won their conference-leading 14th Mountain West championship, eighth of the regular season and sixth tournament title, finished the regular season with a 23-4 record and earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA tournament.
San Diego State is expected to return starters Nathan Mensah and Trey Pulliam, as well as significant contributors Lamont Butler, Keshad Johnson, Adam Seiko and Joshua Tomaic. LeDee joins transfers Tahirou Diabate and Matt Bradley, and incoming freshman Demarshay Johnson Jr., as new faces for the Aztecs in 2021-22.
-SDSU-