West Virginia transfer Jose Perez commits to Arizona State
West Virginia transfer guard Jose Perez has committed to play for Arizona State in 2023-24, On3‘s Joe Tipton reported Sunday evening. Perez recently visited the Sun Devils’ campus and was reportedly supposed to travel to Ole Miss on Monday.
However, with his recent commitment, it seems the Rebels are already out on the guard before getting the chance to make their pitch.
Perez, a college basketball journeyman, committed to West Virginia out of Manhattan last offseason but was unable to obtain a waiver. After former WVU head coach Bob Huggins was fired following Perez’s initial commitment, he announced he was re-entering the portal. Soon after, he announced his intentions to remain in school at WVU.
However, Perez was dismissed from the West Virginia men’s basketball team in late September, an apparently contentious split.
Before his transfer to Morgantown, Jose Perez averaged 18.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists while shooting nearly 40-percent from the field for Manhattan during the 2021-22 season. Before that, he spent two years at Gardner-Webb to begin his college career before transferring to Marquette.
Perez garnered interest from top programs around the country such as Oregon, Gonzaga, Michigan, before deciding to rejoin the Mountaineers program in the offseason. He is one of six players to transfer to Arizona State ahead of 2023-24, including former LSU center Shawn Phillips and former Louisville small forward Kamari Lands.
The Sun Devils are coming off of an 23-13 finish this past season that saw them earn an 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament, losing in the first round. They tip off this season in a little less than a month on Nov. 8 against Mississippi State.
Perez seemingly didn’t want to bail on West Virginia
Perez shared a statement on X sharing some details of his dismissal from the team hours after it was reported.
Perez, who is 25 years old and transferred to West Virginia just before the start of the 2022-23 season from Manhattan, was denied eligibility last season by the NCAA. His dismissal from the team ahead of the 2023-24 campaign had something to do with academics, per reports.
That was an area Perez pushed back on. He claimed the “boss” — who he did not identify — said he’d have his best interests at heart but that actions didn’t matchup with words and said that he was in undergraduate classes as a graduate student, among other issues.
“Gave me your word to comeback, I went to bat for you in all meetings went behind the scenes to get recruits recruited/hosted every player since I’ve been here then got thrown to the street like a dead animal… 25 years old as a grad student in undergrad classes after I graduated never accepted being put in undergrad classes but people wanted me eligible, only disagreement was not going to study hall and that’s where the decision was made nowhere else,” Perez said.
He continued, noting the toll the dismissal has taken on him.
“Literally nowhere to go don’t make it seem like I’m the bad person cause I truly wanted to play here and was one of the reasons I came back because the ‘boss’ gave me his word he would have my best interest now I am once again entering a phase of depression and I can’t play the sport I love it’s been 2 years since I suited up and I still decided to comeback. Good luck wish nothing but the best to Mountaineer nation,” Perez said.