Kansas Jayhawks nab Riley Kugel from Florida in transfer portal

Following Kansas’ 2nd round loss to Gonzaga in the 2024 NCAA Tournament, longtime Jayhawks head coach Bill Self turned some heads when he proclaimed that for the previous month, he had already found himself thinking about the 2024-25 season. Perhaps in today’s NCAA landscape, keeping an eye on the next season is necessary. To the dismay of many, the NCAA transfer portal was already open when the NCAA Tournament began, and many coaches have come out and voiced their displeasure with the fact that they’re now required to recruit their own players throughout the season on top of recruiting any players who might be joining their program the next year.

The Jayhawks have been rumored to have interest in Lawrence, Kansas native Zeke Mayo, who has a year of eligibility left after spending three seasons with South Dakota State. Mayo has scored 18 points per game each of the last two seasons for the Jackrabbits and is the reigning Summit League Player of the Year. Surely, if Bill Self had it his way, he’d be pairing Mayo with his newest transfer portal prize… former Florida Gators guard Riley Kugel, who will be heading to Lawrence after two seasons in Gainesville.

“Kansas basketball has landed its first transfer of the offseason,” writes Michael Swain of 247 Sports. “The Jayhawks landed a commitment from Florida transfer Riley Kugel on Sunday. As a sophomore this past season, Kugel averaged 9.2 points on 39.4 percent shooting with 3.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 23.3 minutes per game. The 6-foot-5 guard has two seasons of eligibility remaining.”

What Kansas is getting in Riley Kugel

Riley Kugel had a strong freshman campaign for the Gators, earning an SEC All-Freshman nod during the 2022-23 season. Kugel began the season as a reserve, playing 17 minutes per game. But over the last fourteen games of the season, Kugel was inserted into the starting lineup and started to shine. In those fourteen starts, Kugel averaged nearly 15 points per game on 47 percent shooting from the field and 37 percent shooting from three-point range. He scored in double figures in his last ten games of the season.

Kugel’s numbers were practically the same across the board during his sophomore season, but that qualifies as a tremendously disappointing second year for a player that Gators head coach Todd Golden expected to contribute even more than he had as a freshman. Kugel began the year as a starter, but struggled to find his shooting touch. In eleven starts, Kugel was shooting just 38 percent from the field, and was eventually moved to the bench.

The 6’5″ guard came to Florida ahead of the 2022 season as a four-star prospect after initially committing to Mississippi State. Kugel committed to the Bulldogs in March 2022, but decommitted and joined the Gators in May of the same year. Earlier this week, when Kugel announced he’d be entering the transfer portal, he listed Connecticut, Houston and Arizona as the other three schools he was considering in addition to the Kansas Jayhawks, but in the end, it was Bill Self’s squad that gets the prize.