Templin Transfer Could Bolster Bearcats Bench as Calhoun Builds Year-One Roster

Cincinnati—Jerrod Calhoun’s honeymoon at the University of Cincinnati is already giving way to the hard calculus of roster construction, and the newest name on the Bearcats’ radar is Utah State forward Karson Templin, who entered the NCAA Transfer Portal last week after earning Mountain West Sixth Man of the Year honors.

Templin, listed at 6-foot-9, averaged 8.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 2025-26 while shooting 50 percent from the floor and a career-best 32.8 percent from three-point range. His season-high 20 points came in a 99-75 victory over Memphis, the type of offensive burst Cincinnati lacked a season ago when the Bearcats finished 221st nationally at 73.1 points per game and managed only 17.3 bench points per contest.

With the portal window looming, Calhoun’s first priority is retaining core scorers guard Keyshuan Tillery, combo guard Jizzle James—who reached double figures 13 times last season—and 7-foot-2 center Moustapha Thiam, who posted four 20-point outings as a sophomore. Adding a proven reserve like Templin would deepen a rotation that enters the Big 12 searching for complementary offense.

The Texas native has spent his entire collegiate career in Logan, carving out a niche with pump-fake savvy and reliable finishing around the rim. If his perimeter shooting holds, Templin’s pick-and-pop game could slot behind returning veterans and provide a late-clock option for a team that connected on just 33.9 percent of its threes a year ago.

Projected as a potential ninth-or-tenth-man role in the Big 12, Templin would face an immediate step up in competition, moving from the Mountain West to arguably the nation’s toughest basketball conference. For a Bearcats program looking to accelerate Calhoun’s rebuild, the veteran forward represents a low-risk, high-upside addition who has already shown he can produce against NCAA Tournament competition.

Cincinnati’s staff is expected to aggressively pursue portal options in the coming weeks as Calhoun assembles his first roster, aiming to turn retention success on the perimeter and front-court experience into a quick turnaround when practice begins this fall.