5 Things: How Kansas State landed transfer guard Tylor Perry

1.) It’s safe to say that it wasn’t a typical recruitment for new Kansas State addition Tylor Perry. After entering the transfer portal, the North Texas guard continuously rattled off lists of schools that were of high priority to him that didn’t even include Kansas State.

However, as KSO continued to share, that didn’t mean the two sides weren’t involved. It just wasn’t something that either one wanted to publicize. He wanted to go through the process and give other schools a look before narrowing in on his top choice all along.

Additionally, K-State was also looking around at other guards, such as Max Abmas and Aaron Estrada. Obviously, Abmas is still deciding between Kansas State and Texas while Estrada went forward and accelerated his recruitment by picking Alabama.

However, Perry did include the Wildcats in his final four, along with Florida, Ole Miss and Texas Tech. The Red Raiders were the lone program of the four not to receive a visit from the top 20 transfer, despite his former head coach Grant McCasland now being in charge in Lubbock.

2.) As just alluded to, the other finalists were Texas Tech, Ole Miss and Florida. However, it was not just the Red Raiders, Rebels and Gators that were defeated by the Wildcats. Kansas State also fended off programs like Alabama and Arkansas. At one point, they would have taken Perry as well. In fact, he also went on official visits to Tuscaloosa and Fayetteville.

3.) While he had a connection to Texas Tech because of the obvious tie to that staff, the strongest link was actually with K-State assistant Jareem Dowling. That played a pivotal role. Like he has done in Manhattan, Dowling formed a very strong bond with his players while coaching the Mean Green and resonates with them on a high level. Head coach Jerome Tang will always be the closer and the main event for Kansas State, but that prior relationship that was established by Dowling played a large role.

4.) The accolades for Perry are endless. Statistically, he is a force. The new K-State guard averaged almost 14 points per game during the 2021-2022 season and averaged a little over 17 points per game this past season.

That earned Perry an All-Conference USA first team selection both years. Furthermore, he was named to the Conference USA All-Tournament team, the NIT All-Tournament team, the NIT Tournament Most Outstanding Player and the Conference USA Player of the Year in 2023.

5.) Perhaps it is not the omission that it appears to be because they did operate much differently on offense at Texas Tech. There was less freedom, and there was much, much, much less pace than what he will see at Kansas State.

That could be an adjustment in the beginning for Perry, or it could see his numbers inflate that much more. He has been more of a scorer than creator in his past. Do we see him make more plays for others offensively when there’s more possessions than freedom?

If not, another guard with that skill-set will likely be necessary for Tang and K-State.

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