Kansas State Loses Returning Guard to Transfer Portal

On Monday afternoon, Jerome Tang and the Kansas State Wildcats lost a key piece of their roster to the transfer portal, with junior guard CJ Jones electing to go portaling.

Jones, a 6-foot-5 guard from East St. Louis, Illinois, joined the Wildcats last season through the portal after two years with UIC.

In his junior season with the ‘Cats, Jones posted 5.7 points, 1.5 assists, and 1.7 rebounds per game on 40.7% shooting from the field. He also connected on 30.9% of shots from three-point range and 67.4% from the free throw line.

Coming out of East St. Louis High School in the Class of 2022, Jones was listed as a three-star prospect by the 247Sports index and the nation’s 311th-ranked player. He also checked in as the 36th-ranked player at his position and the eighth-ranked player in the state of Illinois.

With the loss, Kansas State is set to return just three players from the previous season: David Castillo, Mobi Ikegwuruka, and Taj Manning.

The transfer portal officially opened on Monday, March 24, 2025. According to NCAA data, 1,296 FBS basketball players entered the transfer portal in the 2023-24 school year, with 864 (66.7%) undergraduates and 432 (33.3%) graduate transfers. Of the entrants, 70% reported that they enrolled in another school, 6% withdrew their names from the portal, and 23% are still active, transferred to a non-NCAA school, or left their sport.

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