Former Texas State point guard Jaylen Shead makes grad transfer move to Washington State

PULLMAN – Jaylen Shead, a graduate transfer point guard who last played at Texas State and spent his summer in the transfer portal, has resurfaced at Washington State.

The school has yet to announce Shead’s arrival officially, but CougCenter was the first to report the former Texas State and Cal Poly guard has been added to the 2019-20 basketball roster, filling the 13th and final scholarship for first-year coach Kyle Smith.

Shead’s addition gives the Cougars depth at the point guard position, especially in the wake of Ahmed Ali’s late-summer transfer to the University of Hawaii.

The redshirt senior, who began his career with the Mustangs of the Big West Conference, will have one year of eligibility to play for Smith and the Cougars.

Last season in San Marcos, Texas, Shead was one of three players to start and play in all 34 games for Texas State, leading the Sun Belt Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3) and ranking second in the conference with 4.8 assists per game.

Logging 28.4 minutes per game, the Pflugerville, Texas, native averaged 7.9 points and per game and rebounded well for his size (6-foot-1, 190 pounds), grabbing 4.3 boards per game. Shead didn’t shoot particularly well, hitting 44 percent from the field, 31 from the 3-point line and 67 percent from the free-throw line.

In his only year at Cal Poly, Shead played in nine of 10 games for the Mustangs before transferring. He started in each of those nine games, averaging 8 ppg, 5.2 apg and 4.4 rpg, ranking second with 27.4 minutes per game.

Shead prepped at John B. Connally High School in Austin, Texas, where he averaged 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists per game during the 2014-15 season.