Kentucky native KyKy Tandy enters portal following breakout season with Jacksonville St.
Western Kentucky’s own KyKy Tandy is coming off a breakout season at Jacksonville State that saw him make First Team All-CUSA. Now, he’s in search of a new home for his final season of college hoops.
According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Tandy has entered his name into the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining. The 6-foot-1 guard was born in Hopkinsville, KY, and attended University Heights Academy before starting his college career at Xavier. After four seasons with the Musketeers, Tandy transferred down a level to Jacksonville State and quickly became a star in the Conference USA.
During the 2023-24 season, Tandy averaged 17.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, and 1.1 steals in 31.5 minutes per outing. He started all 32 games played for Jacksonville State, shooting 41.9 percent overall, 38.9 percent from deep (6.8 attempts per outing), and a league-leading 88.4 percent from the line.
Tandy was the only CUSA player to rank top five in all three of the above shooting categories.
Tandy never quite found his footing during his time at Xavier. As a four-star high school recruit and top 100 prospect from the 2019 class, he cracked the Big East All-Freshman team in 2019-20 with per-game averages of 6.7 points and 1.3 rebounds in 18.5 minutes.
However, his numbers slipped over the following three seasons, although not exactly due to poor play. Tandy saw action in just five games during the 2021-22 campaign before a season-ending injury knocked him out. Following a coaching change, he was on the court for 22 games during the ’22-23 season, but again, poor injury luck sent him to the bench for the final 10 contests.
A change in scenery was clearly needed for Tandy and he found everything he was looking for at Jacksonville State. Whether or not Kentucky and new head coach Mark Pope ultimately reach out is yet to be seen, but after growing up in Hopkinsville and spending four college seasons in Cincinnati, a return closer to home could be something in the back of his mind.
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