MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama head men's basketball coach Richie Riley announced Wednesday that three individuals have signed grants-in-aid and will join the program for the 2020-21 season.

Dachon Burke, Kayo Goncalves and Terrence Lewis will all come to South as graduate transfers with one season of eligibility remaining.

In his only season at Nebraska, Burke averaged 12.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game and handed out 37 assists while recording 42 steals and 17 blocked shots — both team-high totals — on the defensive end of the floor.  In addition to finishing second on the squad in scoring, he ranked second in the Big Ten Conference with 1.4 steals per contest.  Burke scored 10 or more points on 19 occasions highlighted by four outings with 20-plus points including a season-best 25 at Indiana, and he averaged 16.2 points, 3.7 assists and two steals per game to help the Cornhuskers to a third-place finish at the Cayman Islands Classic.

The 6-foot-4 guard played his first two years at the collegiate level at Robert Morris, where as a sophomore he was named second-team all-Northeast Conference after posting 17.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.1 steals per contest and led the league in steals while ranking fourth in scoring.  He was named the NEC Player of the Week four times that season as he scored at least 20 points on 11 occasions and recorded a pair of double-doubles.  Burke averaged 7.6 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game for the Colonials his freshman year.

An Orange, N.J., resident, Burke earned second-team all-county honors as a senior at Orange High as he averaged 17 points and 5.4 assists per outing.  He prepped the following year at Coastal Academy, where he posted 17.2 points, six assists and 4.4 rebounds a contest.

"Dachon is an immediate impact signee, his production in the Big Ten will certainly translate and help take South Alabama to new heights," Riley said.  "The contagious energy he brings, his ability to make an impact as a three-level scorer and his elite perimeter defense will be fun to watch."

Goncalves — a 6-foot-8 forward from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil — played the last two seasons at Southeastern Oklahoma State.  He recorded 12.2 points and nine rebounds per outing and was credited with 30 blocks, 26 assists and 19 steals while helping the Savage Storm end the year 23-8 after receiving a bid to the play in the NCAA Division II Tournament.  He shot 47.2 percent from the field overall, 46.9 percent from three-point range and 74.2 percent at the foul line, leading the Great American Conference and ranking fourth in the country in three-point field goal percentage while also ending up second in the league in rebounding and fourth with 3.23 three-pointers per game.  Goncalves also appeared in all 31 contests his first year with the program, averaging 7.5 points and 4.3 rebounds as Southeastern won its first-round NCAA Tournament game en route to a 23-8 finish.

He posted 10.1 points and five rebounds per outing during the 2017-18 campaign at Midland (Texas) J.C., where he shot 47.1 percent from the floor and connected on 40.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc.  Goncalves also helped Centro Educacional da Lagoa in Palhoca, Brazil, to a second-place finish in the national tournament before coming to the United States.

"We are absolutely thrilled that Kayo has joined our family," stated Riley.  "He is an elite shooter with great size — making 100 threes at a 47-percent rate on a 23-win team is extremely impressive — who averaged nine rebounds per game, which should translate here.  Kayo is an unbelievable kid whose best basketball is ahead of him."

A 6-foot-6 guard who hails from Milwaukee, Wis., Lewis played the last three seasons at Iowa State.  In 23 appearances for the Cyclones a year ago, he averaged six points and two rebounds per outing as he shot 51.5 percent from the field and 78.1 percent at the free-throw line.  Lewis recorded a career-best 17 points at Oklahoma and added 12 in a win over Kansas State, two of seven occasions he scored in double figures.  He had an average of 4.3 points per contest for a Cyclone team that went 23-12 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament his sophomore season, while he scored 3.4 points per game in 27 appearances the previous year.

Coming out of Riverside High School — where he played for his father, Tyrone — Lewis was considered a four-star recruit and was the top-ranked player in Wisconsin; he was among the top 60 prospects in the country according to ESPN.com, and was ranked among the top 125 individuals nationally by both 247sports.com and Rivals.com as well.  A two-time all-state selection and Milwaukee City Conference Player of the Year, he scored 1,856 points during his prep career highlighted by shooting 55.8 percent while making 120 three-point field goals his last two years.

Lewis averaged 26 points, 10 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, shooting 77 percent from the floor including making 61 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc, to be selected first-team all-USA Wisconsin as a senior.  He posted 22.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.8 steals per contest the previous season, and also scored 19 points per outing when he was a sophomore.

"Terrence is a big guard with a high-level skill set; he is a shot maker and very creative off the deck," said Riley.  "I love how competitive he is and the fact that he always wants to be in the gym working to get better.  I'm excited about the impact Terrence will have on our program."

South's 2020-21 recruiting class features eight individuals, including five who signed with the program in the fall.  David Walker (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) will join the Jaguars from Casper (Wyo.) C.C. with two seasons of eligibility remaining, with the quartet of Andrew Anderson (Millington, Tenn.), Zondrick Garrett (Oxford, Ala.), Jamal West (Baltimore, Md.) and Caleb White (Metairie, La.) eligible to play four years after arriving from high schools.

The Jaguars won 20 games for the first time since the 2008-09 season after going 20-11 last year, earning the second seed at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament — which was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic before South could play a game in the event — after concluding the regular season with eight straight victories.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics.  Contributions to the South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give

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