For a second straight year, Michigan State lost its backup point guard to a Will Wade-coached team despite having a solidified role with the Spartans in place.
Divine Ugochukwu left Michigan State this offseason rather surprisingly right before the deadline to enter the portal and he followed Tre Holloman’s lead, committing to Wade and the LSU Tigers. Last offseason, Holloman was recruited by Wade to LSU where he re-accepted the job after being fired four years ago following an investigation into illegal recruiting.
Wade decided to take the job again after just one season at NC State, much to the chagrin of Wolfpack fans. The controversial head coach went back to his old stomping grounds where he was originally dubbed a “cheater” and now he’s apparently cleaned up his act and was welcomed back by Tigers fans with open arms.
Bringing in Ugochukwu to be his point guard was one of his first moves and it felt like a good business decision for the Michigan State transfer at the time because of a likely increase in minutes, but a recent roster development shows that he may have made a huge mistake.
LSU’s current roster, pending waivers for international players and pros who are seeking more college eligibility, is down to only four players with the season set to tip off in three months.
Will Wade’s entire roster pic.twitter.com/pQnqRoci8Q
— Paul McNeil Jr. Burner (@PM2Burner) July 10, 2026
It’s obviously expected that LSU will add to that roster before the season tips off because they can’t even field a starting five right now, but even then, there’s a chance that the Tigers will have no depth and they’ll have a tough time making the NCAA Tournament.
LSU has plenty of talent committed but if they don’t get approved by the NCAA, they’re going to be in for one of the roughest seasons of any team in the SEC.
In turn, that will put Ugochukwu in a bad situation but at least he’ll be playing 30-plus minutes per game.
Divine Ugochukwu would have had a cushy role at MSU
If Ugochukwu decided to trust Tom Izzo and remain with the Spartans for the 2026-27 season, he not only would have played for a legitimate national title contender, but he would have had a solid 15-20 minute per game role in the backcourt.
He clearly didn’t want to have to fight for minutes with Carlos Medlock Jr., Kur Teng, Jordan Scott, and Jasiah Jervis, which is totally understandable.
I’m not totally shocked that he transferred, but you’d think he would have learned from Holloman’s mistake of trusting Wade who likely promised him a starting role.
The options were:
- Play for a national title contender and have minimal pressure behind an All-American point guard while maturing under a Hall of Fame head coach.
- Play for a snake-oil salesman who’s been known to lie to players and usually looks out for himself on a team that may not even make the NCAA Tournament.
We’ll find out soon if he made the right choice.
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