Utah Valley guard Tanner Toolson to visit Memphis basketball

Penny Hardaway welcomes a 3-point sniper to campus this week.

Former Utah Valley guard Tanner Toolson, who entered the transfer portal last week, is visiting Memphis basketball starting Tuesday, multiple sources tell Bluff City Media.

The 6-foot-5 redshirt sophomore averaged 13.3 points, 4 rebounds and 1.1 steals this season. He also shot 45.3% from the field, 34.9% from 3-point range and 79.2% at the free-throw line—a noticeable improvement from his 2023-24 shooting spilts (35.9%, 29.6% and 66.7%).

Toolson helped the Wolverines win the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular-season championship with a 15-1 league record, earning an All-Conference Second Team selection in the process. But UVU missed the NCAA Tournament after being upset by Grand Canyon in the WAC tourney final despite a 28-point outing from Toolson. It then lost at San Francisco in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).

Toolson, who hails from Vancouver, Washington, was named the 2020 Washington Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association Mr. Basketball as a high school senior. He signed with BYU to start his college basketball career, but didn’t actually join the Cougars until 2022-23 after serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Jacksonville, Florida.

Toolson ultimately redshirted his lone season with BYU before spending the last two years with Utah Valley. He has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

His father, Andy, is BYU’s 22nd all-time leading scorer and played professional basketball for 10 seasons. His brother, Conner, and his cousin, Ryan, meanwhile, played for Utah Valley. Another cousin, Jake, enjoyed stints with both BYU and UVU.

Toolson could potentially replace Colby Rogers, whose eligibility expired this year, as either a starter or a contributor on the wing. Memphis is also expected to lose Tyrese Hunter, Nick Jourdain and Moussa Cisse to exhausted eligibility, and Jared Harris, Baraka Okojie, PJ Carter and walk-on Damarien “Dink” Yates to the transfer portal. This means Hardaway must replenish at least eight roster spots this offseason.

Dain Dainja is currently out of eligibility too, but he’s repeatedly expressed belief that he’s entitled to an additional campaign. Sources say that Dainja plans to file for a waiver from the NCAA to potentially rejoin Memphis next season.

PJ Haggerty, Dante Harris and redshirt Bouna Kebe can all return in 2025-26. Eastern Florida guard Felipe Patino and Overtime Elite guard Daniel Vieira-Tuck are the only incoming players for next year’s team as of now.

This leaves Memphis with eight open scholarships.

Besides Toolson, Memphis has reached out to the following players in the transfer portal:

UAB forward Yaxel Lendeborg

Maryland guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie

Quinnipiac forward Amarri Monroe (visit pending)

Temple guard Quante Berry (visited last weekend)

Milwaukee forward Jamichael Stillwell (visit pending)

Syracuse forward Chris Bell (visited this week)

South Carolina forward Zachary Davis (visit pending)

Bethune Cookman forward Kalil Camara (visit pending)

Monmouth guard Abdi Bashir

UCF guard Keyshawn Hall

Wichita State center Quincy Ballard

Seton Hall guard Isaiah Coleman

South Carolina Upstate guard Brit Harris

Western Kentucky guard Julius Thedford

Purdue Fort Wayne guard Jalen Jackson

UMass Lowell guard Martin Somerville

Texas Rio Grand Valley guard Hasan Abdul-Hakim

Purdue Fort Wayne forward Chandler Cuthrell

Farleigh Dickinson guard Terrence Brown

Arkansas State guard Derrian Ford

Clemson guard Del Jones

Louisville guard Koren Johnson

High Point guard Kezza Griffa

Wofford forward Jeremy Lorenz

Robert Morris guard Amarion Dickerson

Boston College guard Chas Kelley

Florida State forward Jerry Deng