Alabama transfer guard Rylan Griffen becomes latest to commit to Kansas basketball

LAWRENCE — Kansas basketball’s momentum in the transfer portal continued Friday, with Alabama transfer guard Rylan Griffen’s commitment to the Jayhawks.

Griffen, who helped lead Alabama to the Final Four this past season, would join Kansas as a junior. He announced his decision on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after spending his first two years in college at Alabama. Listed at 6-foot-6 and 190 pounds, he’d provide the Jayhawks with another talented prospect on the perimeter they were lacking during the 2023-24 campaign.

Griffen has 33 starts in 71 appearances during his career, with all 33 of those starts coming as a sophomore. Over the course of his career he’s averaged 21.2 minutes, 8.6 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Not only is he a 35.4% career shooter from behind the arc, but his uptick in production during his time at Alabama saw him shot 39.2% on 3s as a sophomore.

Griffen will have to compete for playing time. He’s joined a transfer class that already included Florida’s Riley Kugel, South Dakota State’s Zeke Mayo and Wisconsin’s AJ Storr, and in addition to them there are the returners from this past season’s team and the freshmen who have signed as well. But he’s shown he has the ability to compete at the highest level of the game.

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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Alabama's Rylan Griffen becomes latest to commit to Kansas basketball