Michigan State basketball won three games in the NCAA tournament.
Tom Izzo had three players enter the transfer portal not even two days later.
Sophomore Xavier Booker became the third Spartan who plans to enter the portal, the Free Press has confirmed after an initial report from On3.
Two other players, junior combo guard Tre Holloman and redshirt freshman shooting guard Gehrig Normand, both have officially entered the portal, the school confirmed.
Booker – who is represented by Klutch Sports Group, the agency which also represents LeBron James – arrived in East Lansing as a five-star recruit in 2023-24 and was expected to have an impactful second season this winter. According to 247Sports.com’s historic rankings, he rated as the site’s top recruit in Tom Izzo’s tenure over NBA players Miles Bridges and Gary Harris.
The 6-foot-11, 240-pound Indianapolis native started the first three games of this season before being moved into a reserve role, then saw his minutes begin to dwindle as the Spartans’ 30-7 season progressed. After a rough two-minute stint in MSU’s regular-season finale against Michigan, Booker found himself as the 10th man in the Spartans’ rotation going back to his hometown for the Big Ten tournament. He played just four minutes in each of their games there, then was the odd man out as MSU coach Tom Izzo shortened his rotation in the NCAA tournament.
Booker played just three minutes of mop-up time in the Spartans’ 25-point win over Bryant in the first round and did not see the floor again. He averaged just 7.1 minutes over his final 11 appearances, scoring 17 points with 10 rebounds and going 5-for-14 from 3-point range. However, Booker did not score in his final four games and had just two rebounds in those limited minutes.
THE OTHER BIG NEWS: Michigan State’s Tre Holloman, Gehrig Normand to enter transfer portal: Report
For the season, Booker averaged 4.7 points and 2.2 rebounds in 12.8 minutes. Much of that came during a four-game stretch in December, when he averaged 11.4 points and 5.3 rebounds against North Carolina, Minnesota, Nebraska and Oakland. He had a season-high 18 points against the Golden Grizzlies at Little Caesars Arena on Dec. 17 but reached double figures in scoring only one more time during the season (10 points against the Gophers on Feb. 18).
Players can enter the NCAA’s transfer portal and still return to their original schools.
Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him @chrissolari.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State’s Xavier Booker, former top recruit, enters transfer portal
Reporting by Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
