Players similar to Jeriah Horne have been a staple in Tulsa coach Frank Haith’s success as a basketball coach.

Not only is 6-foot-7 Horne versatile, being able to play inside and outside, but he is also a transfer from a major college. For whatever reason, Haith has relied a lot on transfer players.

Horne could prove to be one of Haith’s best recruits. Certainly, the Nebraska transfer has been recognized as having ability, since he was ranked by Rivals as the No. 122 player in the country when he was coming out of high school.

Horne feels like Haith will give him more of a chance to showcase his best skills than would have been the case if he had not transferred.

“It was mainly just to play my true position I feel like. Here, I’m able to play the four, at Nebraska I was playing the three,” Horne said of his reason for transferring and his preference for playing power forward. “That was a big part in my coming to Tulsa.

“Obviously, academics are really good here. But being able to play the four spot, and still be on the perimeter and use some of those three qualities that I present in my game and also being able to post up as well. More freedom I guess you could say. Not as many restrictions.”

Horne definitely showed promise at Nebraska as a freshman, averaging 5.3 points and 2.2 rebounds during Big Ten play, and 4.3 points and 1.9 rebounds overall. He hit 33 percent while making 22 three-pointers. He averaged 5.9 points over his last 19 games.

His best games of the season included 16 points and seven rebounds in 24 minutes against Purdue, 12 points in a season-high 27 minutes against Iowa, and 11 points in 17 minutes at Indiana. He also scored a season high 18 points against Southern.

Although Horne figures to mostly play the four, he will probably play a little at the five as well in order to get him on the court more. Senior DaQuan Jeffries figures to play both the four and the three, so playing Horne at center some would make sense when Jeffries is playing the four.

The player Horne has been most often compared to is Junior Etou, who averaged 15 points and 7.9 rebounds last year as a senior to lead TU in both categories.

Both Etou and Horne are similar size, and both are inside players who can step out and hit three-pointers. Also, both are transfers from the Big Ten (Etou from Rutgers) who had success at their schools before transferring. Horne, however, has three years of eligibility left, while Etou had only two years at Tulsa.

Horne is certainly up to the challenge of filling in some of the void left by Etou, although it is unfair to expect him to be as good as Etou at this point in his career.

“Jeriah is very similar to Junior in a sense that when Junior started playing, there are guys that are combo type players that they have good size at 6-7 but they can shoot the ball and they can play like perimeter players,” Haith said.

“I know everybody talks about positionless basketball, but it’s kind of the way the game is played. When you set four guys out there and you pass, dribble, pass, and shoot, and it’s kind of how we play. So he fits into our system and what we would like to do.”