Quentin Grimes gets waiver to play immediately at Houston

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Houston’s Quentin Grimes was granted an NCAA waiver to play immediately this season after transferring from Kansas and should provide an immediate boost to the Cougars.

The 6-foot-5 Grimes tested the NBA waters last season at Kansas, and the Jayhawks then added several guards. Grimes then transferred to Houston, which was picked along with Memphis as the co-favorite in the American Athletic Conference.

“I’m really happy for Quentin and his family,” coach Kelvin Sampson told reporters Tuesday. “I thank the NCAA for approving his waiver. We got a lot of work to do, long way to go and we look forward to getting after it.”

. @UHCougarMBK coach Kelvin Sampson on guard Quentin Grimes being eligible this season pic.twitter.com/UbXOpXi03R

— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) October 22, 2019

Grimes, who traveled with Houston on its preseason trip to Italy and has gone through offseason conditioning, averaged 8.4 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists last season.

“He’s another playmaker. I think he makes people better but he needs the ball in his hands,” Sampson said last week. “He and [redshirt junior DeJon] Jarreau, I watched them play together in Italy, they did a good job of playing off one another. He just makes your team better because you take somebody that would’ve started and bringing them off the bench now, too.”

Houston lost four starters from last season’s team, but thinks the Cougars were chosen as the preseason favorite in part based on an expectation that Grimes would play.

“He’s a good player, it would help us a lot,” Sampson said. “Regardless of who we have, there’s an expectation for us to be successful. I’m sure that where we’re picked had a lot to do with Quentin being eligible because if he wasn’t eligible I doubt they’d have us picked at 1.”

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