Update on West Virginia’s Current Transfer Departures

Over the past few days, the recruitments of James Okonkwo, Joe Toussaint and Mohamed Wague have sped up. All three Mountaineers in the portal have shown interest in returning to West Virginia.

Between Jerome Tang and Kansas State’s staff tweeting celebratory gifs to a blue blood program after Okonkwo, let’s take a look at some updates.

James Okonkwo

North Carolina has emerged as the early favorite to land Okonkwo. UNC star Armando Bacot followed Okonkwo over social media as the 6-foot-8 forward is visiting Chapel Hill on July 24. Okonkwo also is planning to visit Texas A&M.

Okonkwo has heard from LSU, Mississippi State, Nebraska, New Mexico State, North Carolina, Ohio, Saint Louis, Seton Hall, Texas A&M, UConn, VCU and others since entering the transfer portal. Okonkwo also mentioned that he is considering a return to West Virginia.

Okonkwo finished up his first full season at WVU, appearing in 31 games for the Mountaineers. Okonkwo averaged 2.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 11 minutes per game. Okonkwo received more playing time by Big 12 play after his breakout game against Texas Tech in Lubbock.

Joe Toussaint

**Update (July 3, 6 p.m.) – Toussaint announced on his Instagram page that he will not return to West Virginia.

Toussaint visited Kansas State and Texas Tech over the past week as well as meeting Gonzaga and Miami (FL) virtually. Toussaint was visiting K-State at the same time as teammate Wague. It appears that Toussaint will close his recruitment over the next week.

Toussaint entered the transfer portal, leaving WVU after one season. Toussaint transferred from Iowa after three years under Fran McCaffrey and inserted himself in a six-man role for Bob Huggins. Toussaint averaged 9.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists in all 34 games for the Mountaineers. Toussaint had memorable performances against Pitt, Iowa State and Texas Tech this past season. Toussaint has expressed interest in a return to West Virginia.

Mohamed Wague

A tweet last Thursday by supposedly former assistant Larry Harrison sparked speculation about Wague and Kansas State. Harrison’s account tweeted a picture of Wague, which Tang and his staff retweeted. Wague completed his visit early in the weekend and pushed back his Alabama visit to now. Kansas State’s coaching staff was tweeting celebratory gifs on Saturday, but don’t have an official commitment as of Monday afternoon.

It looks like Wague will close his recruitment after a trip to Alabama.

Wague spent the 2022-2023 season as Mountaineer after beginning his college career at Harcum College in Pennsylvania. He appeared in 28 games, averaging 4.1 points per game, 3.1 rebounds per game and shooting 74% from the floor. Like Toussaint and Okonkwo, Wague isn’t ruling out a return to WVU.