K-State earned their first transfer portal commitment on Tuesday night from former Coffeyville (KS) Community College and North Texas guard Tylor Perry. With one of four open scholarships accounted for, the Wildcats will now dial in their recruiting efforts on filling out the final three spots.
TYLOR PERRY’S ROLE FOR K-STATE
Perry is coming to K-State to be the Wildcats’ lead guard and take over the role that Markquis Nowell played in 2023. Perry will certainly be able to slide into the scoring role that Nowell had, and he may produce at a higher level on a more consistent basis. Perry averaged over 17 points per game and shot 41% from three, on 7.5 attempts per game, in a much slower-paced offense for the Mean Green.
North Texas played at the slowest pace in the country last season, averaging just over 59 possessions per game. Meanwhile, K-State ranked 42nd and averaged over 70 possessions per game. That should translate to Perry being an above 20 points-per-game candidate.
One area where Perry has room to grow if he wants to fully fit the Nowell role is his assist numbers. He has been under 2.5 assists both of his seasons at North Texas. That doesn’t really concern me or bother me, his role is to be a scorer and threat from deep on the court, and in K-State’s offense, he will have a few more weapons around him than at North Texas and could see his assist numbers go up by default.
There will be stiff competition for it next season, but Perry is going to be a candidate for all-Big 12 First Team and a dark horse for the Big 12 Player of the Year. Depending on other transfer situations in the league, it also seems likely that Perry will be the second straight Wildcat to win Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. This was a huge get for the Wildcats, and it will be the opening to filling the final three spots on the roster.
FILLING THE FINAL THREE SPOTS
Now that the top two targets for K-State are off the board in Max Abmas and Tylor Perry, the Wildcats will refocus and refine their approach.
The possibility of adding a 2023 high school recruit for one of those scholarships seemed unlikely for a lot of the process, but 2023 five-star Ron Holland opening up his recruitment and decommiting from Texas last week gave the Wildcats a sliver of hope. It is likely that Holland will either end up at Arkansas or go play a year professionally before entering the NBA Draft. So again, it seems unlikely for Jerome Tang to add a fourth member of the 2023 recruiting class.
The Wildcats are still looking to add another guard to their rotation for next season, RayJ Dennis of Toledo is a name that continues to have some steam in K-State circles, but he has plenty of suitors.
In addition to a guard, the Wildcats will still need to find a player that can fill a similar role to Keyontae Johnson, unless Johnson decides to come back which is still a possibility. The final piece will likely be an experienced big man that can plug things up in the middle but still have the characteristics of a big that can run and roll to the rim, but not have to carry the offensive load ever.
