And just like that, the Michigan State basketball roster may officially be set following a major development in the transfer portal.
After weeks of recruiting him, Tom Izzo landed Miami guard transfer Divine Ugochukwu on Sunday afternoon over other potential suitors Texas Tech and USC.
Ugochukwu was a three-star recruit out of high school and committed to Jim Larranaga before he stepped down suddenly midway through the 2024-25 season. The Hurricanes were one of the worst teams in major college basketball and Ugochukwu averaged over 20 minutes per game.
As a true freshman, Ugochukwu averaged 5.3 points, 2.3 assists, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.0 steals while shooting 48 percent from the field. That shooting percentage is impressive when you consider he shot just 17 percent from deep. That long-range jumper is going to need some work but you can bet that'll be a focus of his this offseason. He is efficient inside the arc.
With the addition of Ugochukwu, Michigan State has now added three transfers this offseason, which is the most of any offseason in Izzo's career. Kaleb Glenn (FAU) and Trey Fort (Samford) also committed to Michigan State earlier this offseason.
This also likely locks up the roster for Michigan State heading into the season as Izzo was looking for a quality backup point guard option behind Jeremy Fears Jr. with the losses of Jase Richardson and Tre Holloman earlier than expected.
All Izzo will need from Ugochukwu in 2025-26 is 10-15 minutes per game to give Fears some rest and potentially add a scoring touch from inside the arc along with facilitating. He doesn't need to be a star.
Is this an underwhelming addition? It might be to some, but he's not here to take over and become a go-to scoring threat and he still has three years of eligibility left. Ugochukwu might just grow into a fan favorite during his time at Michigan State. Izzo wouldn't target him if he wasn't an OKG.