Southern Miss Star Tylik Weeks Plans to Enter NCAA Transfer Portal

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Southern Miss head basketball coach Jay Ladner and his staff knew it would be a tall task to bring back both Tylik Weeks and Isaac Taveras for their senior years, given how well both stars played down the stretch of the 2025-26 campaign. The Golden Eagles, despite being the No. 8 seed in the Sun Belt, won three games in three nights to reach the semifinals before falling to No. 1 seed and eventual conference champion Troy.

"That's always a big challenge in today's climate," Ladner said when asked about roster retention following his team's exit in Pensacola.

"It goes against my thoughts, as far as having a basketball team that's first and foremost about developing young people. ... It's hard to be that type of coach in today's climate. So we have to love on 'em for seven, eight, nine months, and then they (have to decide if they want to stay)."

Less than two weeks ago, Taveras decided to enter the transfer portal, and now, according to a report from On3 on Monday, Weeks is planning to do the same. In theory, both players could still choose to return to Southern Miss, but this news indicates that there's a good chance they have offers from bigger schools on the table that will be hard to turn down.

Weeks was the engine that powered the Golden Eagles in 2025-26, averaging a team-best 19.7 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 46.4 percent from the floor. The Brooklyn, NY, native made the All-Sun Belt First Team in his first year playing Division I basketball.

Although losing Weeks would be a big blow to Southern Miss' plans to build on this past season's momentum heading into next season, that doesn't necessarily mean all hope is lost. After all, this current coaching staff went out and found Weeks, Taveras, Djahi Binet, and others last offseason, so despite consistent roster turnover continuing to be an issue, this staff has shown the ability to make the most of the cards they're dealt.

Losing two star players to the transfer portal is tough, but so is Southern Miss. We'll see how the program rebounds this summer, where there should be plenty of roster-building possibilities.