Alabama transfer Jahvon Quinerly picks Memphis basketball, bolstering Tigers' backcourt
Memphis basketball coach Penny Hardaway scooped up Alabama transfer Jahvon Quinerly Thursday.
Quinerly is the latest addition to a Tigers' roster that has undergone an extreme makeover. The 6-1 point guard began his career at Villanova and spent the past four seasons with the Crimson Tide. In early June, he announced publicly he was returning to Alabama. But, less than a month later, the New Jersey native reversed course and entered the transfer portal.
Adding Quinerly, who visited the Tigers' campus last week, means Memphis is in line to bring in at least eight transfers. He is the second one coming in directly from a Power 5 school − Caleb Mills (Florida State) is the other. Center Jordan Brown (Louisiana), who committed to the Tigers on June 27, also played one season in the Pac-12 (at Arizona). Small forward David Jones (St. John's, DePaul) has spent his entire collegiate career in the Big East.
Quinerly is also the second former McDonald's All-American Memphis coach Penny Hardaway has added this offseason. He and Brown were on the same West roster in 2018. Brown had 26 points and 8 rebounds in the game, while Quinerly put up 3 points and 4 assists.
Hardaway also has three freshmen who have already reported to campus and a fourth (4-star combo guard Mikey Williams) whose arrival is pending the resolution of the six felony charges he is facing. Mikey Williams' preliminary hearing was postponed last week until Sept. 5 (more than a week after the fall semester begins at the University of Memphis).
Quinerly fills a gaping void Memphis has been staring down since All-American point guard Kendric Davis and veteran backup Alex Lomax exhausted their respective eligibility in March. The Tigers picked up point guard Jayhlon Young (UCF) in May. But Quinerly is the most proven commodity among all of Memphis' options at the one.
A two-time New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year and a 5-star prospect out of Hudson Catholic in Jersey City, Quinerly broke out in 2020-21. He earned SEC Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors thanks to 15.7 points and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 46.2% from the 3-point range. Quinerly carried that momentum into 2021-22, when he averaged 4.2 assists and 13.8 points a game (eighth and 12th in the SEC respectively).
But he tore his ACL in the NCAA Tournament, which kept him out of the first few games of the 2022-23 season. When he got back on the floor, transfer Mark Sears and freshman Jaden Bradley limited Quinerly to just five starts. He stayed productive, though, (8.8 ppg, 3.6 apg) and became the first Alabama player ever to be named SEC Sixth Man of the Year. Quinerly's 32% assist rate ranked 42nd in the country − 26 spots ahead of Davis, who finished with a 30.2% assist rate at Memphis last season.
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In three seasons at Alabama, he shot 34.8% from 3-point range (including a career-best 43.3% in 2020-21). Last season, coming off the knee injury, he hit on 36.1% of his 3-point attempts.
Quinerly's addition leaves Memphis with at least one open scholarship. If Mikey Williams fails to make it to campus, that would open up a second. Former Tiger star DeAndre Williams is making efforts to play another season at Memphis. If the NCAA grants him an extra year of eligibility, he would claim one of the remaining open scholarships.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis basketball lands Alabama transfer Jahvon Quinerly
