After waiting patiently to play his final season of college basketball at West Virginia, guard Jose Perez opted to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal on July 5 following Bob Huggins’ resignation and the subsequent promotion of Josh Eilert to interim head coach.
Perez has decided to withdrawal from the portal and stick with the Mountaineers to finish his collegiate career, according to a social media post from the 6-foot-5 native of the Bronx, N.Y.
Perez was deemed ineligible last season by the NCAA after transferring from Manhattan to Morgantown just before the start of the season when the Jaspers parted ways with ex-head coach Steve Masiello.
He managed to practice from mid-December on and Perez traveled with the Mountaineers throughout league play.
Perez gives the Mountaineers an 11th player on a roster that has been in flux since Huggins’ arrest for DUI five weeks ago.
The 2021-22 season was the most recent one in which Perez played and he averaged 18.9 points, 4.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds.
Perez, who played two seasons at Gardner-Webb and then one at Marquette before joining the Jaspers, was the 2022 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year before he moved on.
Perez and fellow WVU guard Kerr Kriisa, an Arizona transfer, both entered the portal following the coaching change and have since announced their intention to stick with the Mountaineers.