Former Iowa State guard Tyrese Hunter chooses to transfer to Texas instead of Kansas
Former Iowa State point guard Tyrese Hunter, the 2022 Big 12 freshman of the year, has announced plans to play basketball at Texas next season in a post on his Twitter account.
Hunter, a 6-foot, 178-pound native of Racine, Wisconsin, since entering his name in the transfer portal on April 18, visited Texas, Kansas, Tennessee, Purdue and Gonzaga. Louisville also was on his final list of six transfer possibilities.
Ranked No. 35 in the recruiting Class of 2021 by Rivals.com and No. 39 by ESPN.com, Hunter last season averaged 11.0 points a game on 39.1% shooting for (22-13) Iowa State, which advanced to the Sweet 16 of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Hunter hit 37 of 135 three-point shots for 27.4%. He hit 68.7% of his free throws and dished 172 assists (4.9 per game) to 113 turnovers with 71 steals in 35 games. He also averaged 3.5 rebounds per contest.
Hunter hit seven three-pointers and scored 23 points in Iowa State’s 59-54 win over LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Also, he had 13 points, seven assists and three steals in the Sweet 16 loss to Miami.
He had 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting (1-of-4 threes) with five assists, five turnovers, five steals and one rebound in KU’s 62-61 victory over ISU on Jan. 11 at Allen Fieldhouse. He had eight points on 3-of-8 shooting with two assists, three turnovers, two steals and two rebounds in KU’s 70-61win over ISU on Feb. 1 in Ames, Iowa.
Hunter according to the Austin American Statesman is “likely to start alongside sixth-year senior Marcus Carr, giving the Horns a dynamite 1-2 backcourt punch next season.”
The Longhorns return forwards Timmy Allen, Christian Bishop, Brock Cunningham and likely Dylan Disu, who has put his name in the NBA Draft pool at this time. UT also adds Sir’Jabari Rice, a 6-4 guard, who played four seasons at New Mexico State. Also joining the UT team are McDonald’s All-Americans Arterio Morris (guard) and Dillon Mitchell (forward).
Hunter committed to Iowa State in August 2020, when Steve Prohm was head coach. He chose ISU over Florida, Texas Tech, UConn, Georgia and others. He averaged 18.9 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists as a senior at Racine’s St. Catherine’s High School and was a two-time Associated Press all-state selection.
KU recently received a commitment from former Texas Tech guard Kevin McCullar, who placed his name in the transfer portal on April 27. He will attend KU if he decides to remove his name from the NBA Draft pool by 10:59 p.m., Central time, Wednesday.
He chose KU over runnerup Gonzaga. McCullar, who attended the G League Elite camp, had an individual workout with the Utah Jazz on Thursday according to Stockrisers.com.
KU currently has scholarship players on the 2022-23 roster in senior-to-be Cam Martin, juniors-to-be Dajuan Harris and Joseph Yesufu, sophomores-to-be KJ Adams, Zach Clemence and Bobby Pettiford, plus redshirt freshman-to-be Kyle Cuffe and true incoming freshmen Gradey Dick, Zuby Ejiofor, MJ Rice and Ernest Udeh.
The final two scholarships could go to McCullar and KU junior-to-be forward Jalen Wilson if they remove their names from the draft pool by the June 1 deadline.
