Dennis Parker Jr., a 6-foot-6 transfer guard who revitalized his career at Radford last season, announced his commitment to Kansas on The Field of 68’s YouTube channel on Thursday morning.
“After great conversations with coach Bill Self and some of the assistants, man, I just felt like it was the perfect fit for me,” Parker said on the livestream.
Parker, a multidimensional scorer, averaged 18.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game for the Highlanders during the 2025-26 season. He shot 48.4% on 12.7 total attempts per game and 37.7% from deep, at one point scoring 53 points in a game against Coppin State on Dec. 14.
He becomes KU’s fourth transfer addition after Keanu Dawes (Utah), Leroy Blyden Jr. (Toledo) and Christian Reeves (Charleston) and will spend his senior season with the Jayhawks. He played two years as a reserve at N.C. State before making the move to Radford.
A native of Richmond, Virginia, he said he feels as though he is carrying on a tradition of past players from his area heading to KU.
“It’s so many great guys that come out of (AAU program) Team Loaded and end up at Kansas, like Frank Mason and ‘Big Dave’ McCormack,” Parker said.
Parker was a four-star prospect and top-100 recruit out of John Marshall High School when he joined the Wolfpack. On the 2023-24 team that made an improbable run to the Final Four, he started 12 of 29 games in which he appeared and posted 4.7 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. His playing time dwindled somewhat the following season, which was the last for head coach Kevin Keatts. (At one point that year, by the way, he played 16 minutes and did not score in a game against KU at Allen Fieldhouse.)
Perhaps the biggest improvement for Parker when he went to Radford — which was 16-16 and 9-7 in its conference last season — was his 3-point shooting. He had been just 21-for-75 (28.0%) in his career at N.C. State before going 60-for-159 with the Highlanders.
Parker said Self called him and told him “Hey man, if you’re going to come here, we need you to score the ball.”
“That’s really what it’s going to have to be,” Parker said. “I feel like the pieces of the team that he brought together for this year (are) great, man.”
But he also described himself as a “two-way dog,” noting that he had to be a strong defender before he was a talented scorer, and mentioned he had talked to Melvin Council Jr. about the importance of defense in recent days.
Parker is the 12th player on KU’s roster for 2025-26, joining the transfers Blyden, Dawes and Reeves, returners Paul Mbiya and Kohl Rosario and incoming freshmen Davion Adkins, Luke Barnett, Taylen Kinney, Grant Mordini, Trent Perry and Tyran Stokes. The Jayhawks can add as many as three more.
“I’m excited to play with these young dudes,” Parker said. “To be experienced in college, I’ve seen a Final Four before, so it’s like I can be one of those guys to just be around them and try to just guide them if they need it.”
