Former KU guard Quentin Grimes cleared to play for Houston this season

By Matt Tait     Oct 22, 2019

Nick Krug
Kansas guard Quentin Grimes (5) puts up a three over Northeastern guard Jordan Roland (12) during the second half, Thursday, March 21, 2019 at Vivint Smart Homes Arena in Salt Lake City, Utah.

After transferring to Houston following his freshman season at Kansas, guard Quentin Grimes will be eligible to play for the Cougars during the 2019-20 season.

Jeff Goodman, of WatchStadium.com, reported on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon that a waiver filed by Houston requesting that Grimes be declared eligible to play immediately had been granted.

According to Goodman, Grimes “won (immediate) eligibility on the fact that there wasn’t a scholarship open for him at Kansas when he decided to withdraw from the NBA Draft. Told that KU supported him being eligible right away.”

KU’s cooperation is no surprise given the parting words from Self last spring, when Grimes announced he was transferring.

“We’ve all enjoyed coaching Quentin this past year and certainly appreciate his efforts,” Self said in news release last May. “We initially anticipated him staying in the draft but he and his family decided to return to college but not return to the University of Kansas. We totally support and respect Quentin and his decision and wish him the very best moving forward. We believe Quentin will have a long professional basketball career and look forward to watching his development.”

The 6-foot-5 guard joined the Cougars for an offseason trip to Italy this summer and has participated in preseason conditioning workouts with the program.

Grimes started all four games for Houston in Italy, and, according to Joseph Duarte, of the Houston Chronicle, has been working with the first team.

“The thing I like about him so far is he’s earning the right to stay there,” Houston coach Kelvin Sampson told Duarte of Grimes’ role as a starter prior to Tuesday’s news.

Tuesday, after learning that Grimes was eligible, Sampson told Duarte: “I’m really happy for Quentin and his family and thank the NCAA for approving his waiver. We prepared to play with Quentin and we prepared to play without him. We’ve got a lot of work to do, a long way to go, and look forward to getting after it.”

As a freshman last season, Grimes, who will wear No. 24 at Houston, started all 36 games for the Jayhawks, averaging 8.4 points and 2.5 rebounds per game while shooting 38.4% from the field.

He will be a sophomore at Houston this season and will have three years of eligibility remaining.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.