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Da' Shonte Riley is coming home.

The former all-state center at Birmingham Detroit Country Day officially transferred from Syracuse to Eastern Michigan on Wednesday, returning to the area's basketball scene after a two-year absence.

Riley, a 7-foot shot-blocking specialist, will join new EMU head coach Rob Murphy, his one-time assistant with the Orange, in Ypsilanti. As a freshman at Syracuse in 2010, Riley averaged 1.5 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.0 block per game on a team that earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced into the Sweet 16. This past winter, he sat out the entire campaign with a foot injury.

When he was in high school, Riley helped spark Country Day to a Class B state title on the hardwood in 2007 during his sophomore year. His senior season, Riley averaged 12 points, 11 rebounds and nearly four blocks per game for a Yellowjackets' squad that was nationally-ranked before getting bounced in the 2009 state tournament by rival Flint Powers in the quarterfinals. Prior to arriving to Country Day, Riley played at Detroit Cass Tech while he was a freshman.

Under most circumstances, Coach Murphy's brand new big fella would be forced to sit out 2012 due to the transfer, however reports are that Riley will seek an exemption from the NCAA based on health issues related to some his close family members.

Murphy's hiring at EMU back in April is a homecoming of sorts as well. A native Detroiter, Murphy won a state title as head coach at Detroit Crocket in 2001. Leaving the prep ranks after raising a banner, he had a stop at Kent State before landing on head coach Jim Boeheim's staff in 2005.

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