Bio Blast: Central Arkansas guard Camren Hunter

We’re still one week away from the official start of transfer portal season. The window for college basketball players to enter their names into the portal is set for April 7, but some of the top talents in the sport have already announced intentions to do so ahead of time.

One of them is Central Arkansas’ Camren Hunter, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound guard who was named the 2025-26 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year. Jacob Polacheck of KSR+ reports that Kentucky is expected to be involved with the Arkansas native once the portal window opens. Hunter has already used up four years of eligibility, but according to On3’s Joe Tipton, he’s actively pursuing a fifth year while also considering a return to Central Arkansas.

Hunter will be a hot commodity once he hits the open market. KSR is taking a closer look at his game and career path in another edition of our Bio Blast series.

Three years with Central Arkansas (with a pitstop at Wisconsin)

Considered a three-star recruit out of Bryant (AR) High by On3, Hunter stayed close to home for college, making an immediate impact as a true freshman in 2021-22. The lefty started all 30 games for Central Arkansas in year one, winning ASUN Conference Freshman of the Year while making All-ASUN First Team along the way. He led the Bears in assists (103) and logged a pair of double-doubles, posting 14.1 points per game.

Hunter’s game improved as a sophomore in 2022-23. He once again started all 30 games, averaging 16.9 points, five rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.5 steals in 34 minutes per contest. His outside shooting efficiency also went up from 25 percent as a freshman to 31.1 percent in year two. That was enough to land him a spot on the All-ASUN Third Team. But winning did not come with the individual accolades. Central Arkansas won just 20 combined games in Hunter’s first two seasons.

His true junior season in 2023-24 was quickly derailed by a season-ending foot injury that kept him off the floor from start to finish. He actually went into the portal that offseason and committed to Butler before backing off that decision and staying at Central Arkansas. It still netted him a redshirt year, which he used by transferring to Wisconsin for the 2024-25 campaign. It was an uneventful and short stay, though. Hunter never found a groove with the Badgers, appearing in just 11 games while managing only three total points across 23 minutes of action.

From there, Hunter returned to his old school, picking up right where he left off at Central Arkansas — this time with winning production. Hunter was the leading scorer (21 PPG) for the Bears in 2025-26, which posted a 22-12 (15-3 ASUN) overall record. They would have been in the NCAA Tournament had it not been for a 98-93 overtime loss against Queens (NC) in the ASUN Tournament title game, one that saw Hunter explode for 49 points. Central Arkansas still won the conference’s regular season crown, but couldn’t get into the Big Dance.

Even still, Hunter was named ASUN Player of the Year with per-game averages of 21 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.4 steals in 31 minutes. It was easily his best shooting season in college: 50.6 percent from the field, 36.9 percent from deep, and 79.6 percent from the free-throw line. He went from averaging 2.9 and 2.8 turnovers per game during his first two college seasons, respectively, to just 1.8 in 2025-26.

What the advanced stats say about his game

Offensively, the analytics adore Hunter’s game. His effective field goal percentage of 58 percent this past season ranked him in the 92nd percentile among all Division I players, per CBB Analytics, an elite number for someone with a usage rate (30.6 percent; 98th percentile) as high as his. With good size for a guard, he graded out as an above-average rebounder on both ends of the floor. His passing and turnover numbers are also above average, and he’s shown the ability to draw plenty of fouls. His offensive bag extends to all areas of the floor.

From the perspective of plugging him into a Mark Pope offense, Hunter can knock down threes with ease and was a highly efficient transition scorer last season. His defensive impact isn’t nearly as obvious, though. Hunter is good at creating havoc plays on that end of the floor — forcing turnovers, blocking shots, creating easy fastbreaks off defensive rebounds — but Central Arkansas was not significantly better or worse on defense when he was in the game compared to his time on the bench.

And while it’s a small sample size of only four games, his efficiency did dip when facing Quad 1 or Quad 2 opponents. He averaged just 14.5 points per game with a poor effective field goal percentage of 41.8 in losses to North Carolina, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and SMU last season. Hunter struggled going up a level the last time around (although he was coming off an injury at Wisconsin); will his game translate better with a second opportunity?

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