Loyola Chicago transfer guard Jayden Dawson commits to Kansas

Loyola Chicago transfer guard Jayden Dawson has committed to Kansas. He was a second team All-Atlantic 10 selection while leading the Ramblers to the NIT semifinals.

Dawson put together a career year on the Northside as a junior, starting all 32 games in which he appeared. He averaged 13.9 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while shooting 41% from the field.

Dawson turned in his biggest game of the year in the second round of the NIT against San Francisco. He set a new career-high with 35 points to help lead Loyola Chicago to a thrilling 77-76 victory over the Dons to advance to the quarterfinals, which took place back home at Gentile Arena. He will have one year of eligibility remaining.

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Following the Ramblers’ loss to Chattanooga in the NIT semifinals at Hinkle Fieldhouse, Jayden Dawson entered the transfer portal. A product of Hastings (NE) Adams Central, he will have one year of eligibility remaining.

Kansas is coming off an up-and-down 2024-25 season after entering the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed. The Jayhawks finished the year 21-13 following the season-ending loss to Arkansas in the first round and headed into the offseason preparing to lose some key pieces.

Kansas’ top four scorers – Hunter Dickinson, Zeke Mayo, KJ Adams and Dajuan Harris – are all out of eligibility. In addition, the trio of Rylan Griffen, AJ Storr and Flory Bidunga all entered the transfer portal after the window opened.

However, KU has Five Star Plus+ guard Darryn Peterson coming in as the No. 3-ranked player from the 2025 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. On3’s Pete Nakos reported how the program plans to build around him next season and spend in the transfer portal.

As the Jayhawks looked ahead to the offseason, Bill Self said the program would re-evaluate roster construction moving forward. Kansas was one of the big winners in the portal the last two cycles, but both years resulted in early exits from the NCAA Tournament.

“That’s a fair question,” Self said. “I think it’s a fair question that in some ways is an unrealistic question, though. If I’m not mistaken, no matter what you do in life, there’s going to be some ups and downs and we just haven’t had very many downs, to be honest with you. The last two years, we were such a beat up team at the end, we probably didn’t have much of a chance with our injuries to [Kevin] McCullar and [Hunter Dickinson] wasn’t healthy.

“This year we don’t have that excuse. This year our roster was good enough to be competitive, but it probably wasn’t the roster it needed to be to be talked about in a way that the best teams in America are talked about.”