Former Temple guard Damian Dunn transferring to Houston

Former Temple guard Damian Dunn has transferred to Houston.

Dunn announced the news that he would be joining the Cougars via Twitter on Saturday afternoon. He entered the transfer portal, along with five Temple teammates, following a disappointing 2022-2023 season for the Owls. The guard will have two years of eligibility remaining beginning next season.

Over the last three years, Houston has made the Final Four, Elite Eight, and Sweet 16. The Cougars (33-4) are moving from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12 next season alongside Central Florida and Cincinnati. Brigham Young, which competed in the Mountain West last season, will also join the league for the 2023-24 campaign.

» READ MORE: Temple won’t fix its basketball problems simply by changing coaches

Houston, who entered this year’s tournament as the No. 2 overall seed, was upset by Miami, 89-75, in the Sweet 16 on March 24.  In the aftermath, head coach Kelvin Sampson’s top two scorers, guard Marcus Sasser and forward Jarace Walker, declared for the 2023 NBA draft. At first glance, Dunn figures to be a candidate to replace some of Sasser’s production.

Dunn, who hails from Kinston, N.C., was the first commit of the Aaron McKie era. Since McKie and Temple parted ways last month, multiple Power 5 programs had reached out and contacted Dunn about a potential transfer.

Over the last three seasons, Dunn has developed as both a scorer and a playmaker. He averaged 15.3 points per game, which ranked second on the team, and surpassed 1,000 career points in his final season at Temple, earning All-AAC third-team honors. Dunn scored a career-high 38 points against Vanderbilt on Nov. 15. For three consecutive seasons, Dunn averaged double-digit figures in scoring. He also averaged a career-best 3 assists per game in 2022-23.

Two Temple players, Dunn and forward Nick Jourdain (Memphis), have now found homes after entering the transfer portal. Four other players — Khalif Battle, Jamille Reynolds, Zach Hicks, and Hysier Miller — remain in the portal but have not made official decisions on their next schools.

New Temple head coach Adam Fisher, formerly the associate head coach at Penn State, is tasked with replacing the program’s top six scorers, including Dunn, from last season. Dunn and Battle scored most of Temple’s points in 2022-23, and when those two struggled, the offense largely failed to spark. Guard Jahlil White is the one starter who is expected to return, but he only averaged 5.8 points per game last season.

» READ MORE: What impact will Adam Fisher have at Temple? Get to know the Owls’ new men’s basketball coach.

Temple guards Shane Dezonie and Deuce Roberts will be expected to step up given the max exodus on North Broad. However, Dezonie only averaged 1.4 points per game, while Roberts never made his debut as a freshman.

One thing Fisher has going for him as he looks to rebuild Temple’s program is strong local recruiting ties. When he was at Miami, Fisher recruited local standouts Isaiah Wong and Wooga Poplar to Coral Gables. The first-year head coach is taking over a program that has not made an NCAA Tournament since 2019 and went 2-7 down the stretch.