LAWRENCE, Kan. – After researching his prospective draft status with the NBA, Kansas guard Ochai Agbaji announced Tuesday that he will return for his junior season at KU in 2020-21.

“I looked into the NBA and was given some great feedback on ways I can be a better basketball player,” Agbaji said. ”I know there are a lot of areas of my game I can improve and look forward to working with our coaches to reach that next level. We have some unfinished business to take care of and I’m looking forward to returning to KU for my junior season.”

Agbaji started all 31 games for Kansas in 2019-20 and was third on the team in scoring at 10.0 points per game for the 28-3 Jayhawks who won the Big 12 regular-season title at 17-1 and finished No. 1 in both the Associated Press and USA TODAY Coaches polls before the 2019-20 season ended due to the pandemic. The Kansas City, Mo., guard earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors and was an Academic All-Big 12 First Team selection this past season.

“I believe Ochai could have been drafted but there are some things he knows he still needs to improve on,” KU head coach Bill Self said. “He has taken a very mature approach to this. I believe Ochai is an NBA player and with a great year next season, hopefully he’ll put himself in a position to do that.”

Agbaji was second on the team in minutes played, averaging 33.3 minutes per game which ranked sixth in the Big 12. He had 30-plus minutes in 24 games, was second on team with 44 3-point field goals made and third with 38 steals. He ranked 15th in the Big 12 in 3-point field goals made per game at 1.5 and 15th in steals per contest at 1.2.

For his career, Agbaji has started 47 of 53 games played, has made 69 3-pointers and has averaged 9.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest.