Michigan State basketball has its first transfer portal loss of the 2026 offseason.
Divine Ugochukwu, a guard who started 12 games for the Spartans last year before breaking his foot in February, has reportedly entered the transfer portal with a do-not-contact tag, according to On3.
Ugochukwu helped fill a valuable role for the Spartans in 2025-26 as a backup point guard after the Spartans suddenly had a big hole at that spot when Jase Richardson declared for the 2025 NBA Draft after just one year.
Izzo brought in Ugochukwu from Miami (Florida) after his freshman season there, where he put up similar stats to the ones he eventually did in East Lansing.
Last season he averaged 5.1 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists, but had a much bigger impact on the team than those stats reflect. He was inserted into the lineup in the 10th game of the season against Penn State and immediately made an impact, scoring 23 points on 8-for-10 shooting on the road. He started the next 11 games before his final one last year against Minnesota when he got hurt in the same game he was replaced in the starting lineup by freshman Jordan Scott to help stagger the minutes with star point guard Jeremy Fears Jr.
Without Ugochukwu, the Spartans had a serious backup point guard problem and were forced to try and steal an occasional minute here and there with third string point guard Denham Wojcik, who was often overmatched.
Next year, the backup point guard spot shouldn’t be as big of an issue (assuming Fears eventually pulls his name out of the 2026 NBA Draft), with highly-touted recruit Carlos Medlock Jr. arriving on campus as the heir apparent to Fears.
The Spartans are also bringing four-star shooting guard Jasiah Jervis, who will get playing time right away, and return Kur Teng and Jordan Scott, who will both see time at the 2-guard spot as well, meaning the backcourt was suddenly a little crowded.
There is not an immediate landing spot for Ugochukwu that has been publicly reported, but based on the do-not-contact tag, it sounds like he’s got a spot figured out.
Andrew Birkle is an assistant sports editor at the Free Press. Contact him via email at abirkle@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State’s Divine Ugochukwu reportedly entering transfer portal
Reporting by Andrew Birkle, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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