West Virginia still waiting for Perez decision

West Virginia is still waiting for word on the appeal for Manhattan transfer Jose Perez and head coach Bob Huggins isn’t expecting it to occur prior to the Baylor game.

“First of all I’d be totally shocked if that happened and it’s taken them as long as it’s taken which is totally ridiculous. You’re messing with a young man’s potential livelihood,” Huggins said. “You’re messing with the fact this kid has done everything that’s humanly possible for him to do and it hasn’t changed.”

Perez was initially denied a waiver by the NCAA for immediate eligibility this season Dec. 16 and the Mountaineers immediately filed an appeal of the decision. Huggins also expressed disappointment at the time.

But as part of the initial decision, the NCAA did give Perez an additional season next year after initially denying the waiver for this coming year.

Now, almost a month later both Perez and West Virginia are still waiting for the ruling on that appeal and whether he will be eligible this season.

Perez joined the basketball team Nov. 17 after selecting the program during a whirlwind recruitment over a five-day period earlier in the month. He initially elected to enter the transfer portal after his head coach Steve Masiello was fired just 10-days prior to the start of the season.

Perez, 6-foot-5, 220-pounds, started 29 of 30 games played last season for Manhattan, where he averaged 18.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists and he earned First Team All-MAAC honors in the process. That led to him being tabbed as the league’s pre-season player of the year this season.

When the waiver was initially denied, Perez was granted the ability to start practicing with West Virginia Dec. 17 and has been doing so since that point.

Perez has been primarily playing as a scout team option for the Mountaineers since that point and has served as a look against the opposing team’s best player. He has yet to go through a scrimmage and hasn’t played much on the defensive side due to his usefulness on the scout team.

“Yes, he was kind of on the scout team but did he practice with us? No. He’s on the practice squad. He's somebody that we guard,” Huggins said.

As a transfer himself during his playing days, Huggins understands the desire for Perez to want to play this season but for now the Mountaineers must await a decision on the matter.

Still, there is one encouraging thing through this process in terms of how Perez has performed in his current role with the team.

“He scores the ball against us, but then again everybody else does, too,” Huggins said.

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