Former Kansas wing Jamari McDowell announced in an Instagram post on Wednesday night that he has committed to Wake Forest.
McDowell, a Houston native, will join the Demon Deacons as a redshirt junior after spending three years with the Jayhawks.
During the 2025-26 season, the 6-foot-5 McDowell worked his way up KU’s rotation and frequently served as KU’s first guard off the bench, even starting seven of the 35 games in which he played. He averaged 3.3 points and 1.6 rebounds, primarily serving as a spot-up shooter and converting 34.9% of his attempts from beyond the arc.
Previously, he redshirted during the 2024-25 season after he had appeared for 7.2 minutes per game in 31 games as a freshman. Then the Jayhawks brought in a variety of transfer off-ball guards in the 2024 offseason.
McDowell originally came to KU as a four-star prospect in the class of 2023, choosing the Jayhawks over Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Xavier; now he’ll move to one of those original finalists with two years of eligibility remaining.
Wake Forest is coached by Steve Forbes and went 18-17 overall, including 7-11 in the ACC, during the 2025-26 season.
McDowell is the third KU transfer whose new school has been revealed, after Flory Bidunga (Louisville) and Samis Calderon (Butler). The final destinations of Elmarko Jackson and Bryson Tiller are not yet known, although Tiller seems headed for either Miami or Missouri. Center Paul Mbiya is also in an unclear situation as his agency confirmed to the Journal-World that he was going to enter the transfer portal; by all accounts, however, he has not in fact done so.
