West Virginia Adds St. John's Transfer Joson Sanon Looking to Rebuild Stock

The Mountaineers are hoping the former highly ranked recruit can find his old form next season

Feb 18, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; St. John's Red Storm guard Joson Sanon (3) shoots against Marquette Golden Eagles forward Damarius Owens (9) during the first half at Fiserv Forum. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

After a season in which West Virgina narrowly missed the NCAA Tournament, the Mountaineers are looking for a major bounce back season and aggressively hitting the transfer portal.

Its most recent addition enters Morgantown with a high upside but will be trying to reemerge as a top option after a shaky sophomore season.

Joson Sanon, a St. John’s transfer, announced his commitment to West Virginia over the weekend as he will start his third school in three seasons. Sanon joined the Red Storm after a year at Arizona State, and he struggled to find consistency in New York after averaging 7.9 points and 2.4 rebounds per game on 33.8-percent shooting from the field and 33.6-percent from 3-point range.

With the Sun Devils, he posted 11.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.0 assists on 42.4-percent shooting and 36.9-percent from distance.

There was buzz around Joson Sanon as a potential NBA Draft pick after his freshman season, something he did not shy away from, but is now not close to being a projected pick. He declared for the draft and went through workouts before withdrawing to play St. John’s this season but never put his name into the process after his rocky season.

Now, he joins a West Virginia program in which he hopes to remerge as a top option on offense.

The Mountaineers have also added Boise State’s Javan Buchanan, Butler’s Finley Bizjack, Georgia Tech’s Mouhamed Sylla, Florida State’s Martin Sommerville, and Utah’s Seydou Traore in the portal.

West Virginia put itself in position to make the NCAA Tournament in mid-February but could not find a way to win close games, losing four of six games to close the regular season all by seven points of fewer. The Mountaineers were run off the floor by 20 points in its Big 12 Tournament opener by BYU and ultimately landed a spot in The College Basketball Crown, winning the prize money for the tournament.

West Virginia has not made the NCAA Tournament since Bob Huggins’ final season in 2022-23.