Lots of buzz about Michigan basketball and transfer Jose Perez

Michigan basketball could be getting the transfer portal addition we have been hoping for as guard Jose Perez is being tied to the Wolverines. 

Ever since the transfer of Caleb Love to Michigan basketball fell apart, the Wolverines have been looking for guards that can score and another entered the transfer portal on Wednesday.

The player is Jose Perez. He was with West Virginia last season but wasn’t able to play after being denied a waiver by the NCAA. Previously, he was at Gardner-Webb, as well as Marquette and Manhattan.

Perez was the MAAC Player of the Year back in the 2021-22 season and averaged 18.9 points per game to go along with 4.5 assists. The 6-foot-5 guard has one year of eligibility left and the early buzz is that Michigan basketball will be heavily involved.

Davis Moseley, formerly of the Michigan Insider, has still been tweeting out plenty on inside info and he’s hinted that Michigan basketball is going to seal the deal quickly, although other reports say a West Virginia return is still possible.

Jose Perez would be perfect for Michigan basketball

With the limited options in the transfer portal and the difficulty of adding players that aren’t graduates at this stage, this would be a huge addition for the Wolverines.

Michigan basketball needed another scoring guard or wing and Perez certainly fits the bill. He’s got three seasons of averaging more than 15 points per game but it should be noted that it wasn’t against high-major competition.

During his lone season at Marquette, Perez struggled. He averaged just three points in 11 minutes per game. I haven’t studied that season at all, so I don’t know the factors that might have contributed to that, just something to note.

Perez can shoot the 3-ball but isn’t necessarily a 3-point shooter. He’s just a 30-percent shooter from beyond the arc for his career. He’s averaged 44 percent on 2-pointers and shoots 75 percent from the line.

To be fair, he’s also been a high-usage player, so that’s a reason why the 3-point percentage is a little lower. Like Caleb Love, Perez was likely taking low-percentage shots at times at the end of the shot clock.

At any rate, you could easily see him slide into the starting lineup alongside Dug McDaniel and Nimari Burnett. It would take some pressure off of Dug, plus add a secondary playmaker that was really needed.

Burnett would probably man the three spot. It would be more of a three-guard lineup, but after watching the Wolverines struggle to close out teams and take care of the ball last season, I’ve got zero issue with more guard types on the floor.

We’ll have to see how things shake out but Perez would be a huge boon for Juwan Howard, particularly at this stage of the offseason.