MORGANTOWN — Manhattan transfer Jose Perez began practicing with the WVU men’s basketball team Saturday, but he will not be eligible to play in Sunday’s game against Buffalo, and its possible he may not play at all this season.
The NCAA denied Perez’s waiver for immediate eligibility late Friday.
“We are disappointed by the news that we received this afternoon from the NCAA,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said in a press release. “All of Mountaineer Basketball is hurting for Jose. We plan to appeal this decision.”
As part of the decision, the NCAA did clear the way for Perez — listed as a senior on WVU’s roster page — to receive an extra year of eligibility for the 2023-24 season.
On his Twitter account, Perez also expressed his disappointment, saying he had given his “blood, sweat and tears” to Manhattan, before adding he wasn’t going to say too much.
Perez first came to WVU out of the transfer portal in October and was added to the roster as a walk-on after he officially enrolled for the spring semester.
The 6-foot-5 guard from the Bronx, N.Y., was all set to play his second season with the Jaspers this season, but the school fired head coach Steve Masiello on Oct. 25, and Perez put his name into the portal the same day.
“That college place was home and due to them firing basically a coach who took me in as his son, just got no words,” Perez tweeted.
Prior to Masiello’s firing, Perez was named the preseason player of the year in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference after he averaged 18.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game last season.
Perez has moved around in college basketball, with WVU being the fourth school he’s been enrolled at. He began his college career at Gardner-Webb in 2018 and played two seasons there before transferring to Marquette in 2020.
Perez was expected to redshirt that season at Marquette, but was called into action late in the season and he played 10 games before leaving the team for personal reasons prior to the start of the 2021 Big East tournament.
He then transferred closer to home at Manhattan, where he had his best season in his one year with the Jaspers.
During a press conference earlier Friday, WVU guard Erik Stevenson expressed his disappointment that the NCAA hadn’t previously cleared Perez to play, and finished his conference by saying “Free Jose.”
“I’m just waiting for the NCAA to pull their heads out and make a decision,” Stevenson said. “I think it’s kind of B.S., to be honest. We were supposed to hear something back from the NCAA (on Friday). I doubt it. If I was a betting man, I would put my money on we’re not going to hear anything from them. I’m kind of fed up with them and it has nothing to do with me.”
As for the appeals process, WVU is submitting it’s claim to the NCAA Committee for Legislative Relief, which is a seven-member body consisting of four compliance officers from around the country, one athletic director, an associate athletic director from the Atlantic 10 and an associate commissioner from the Big East.
One of the members is Blake Barlow, an athletic director in the University of Texas compliance office.
The committee’s decision is final and binding and can’t be appealed any further.
WVU has 30 days from Friday to file it’s appeal and a school spokesman said the final decision is expected within one to two weeks after the appeal is filed.
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