Kansas State boosts backcourt with impact transfer Dug McDaniel from Michigan

One of the biggest names in the transfer portal has decided to play for the Kansas State men’s basketball team next season.

Dug McDaniel, a 5-foot-11 sophomore guard who led Michigan in scoring this year, has committed to play for the Wildcats under head coach Jerome Tang.

McDaniel announced his plans to enroll at K-State on Wednesday with a post on social media after visiting Manhattan over the weekend.

He picked the Wildcats after also receiving interest from TCU and several schools from the Big East and Big Ten that are located close to his hometown of Washington, D.C.

The talented guard averaged 16.3 points, 4.7 assists and 3.7 rebounds for Michigan last season.

Several national media outlets rank McDaniel as one of the top 25 available players in the transfer portal.

When Tang began looking for talented transfers in the portal he quickly identified McDaniel as a priority target. It’s easy to see why. He is an experienced guard who started 52 games for the Wolverines and produced impressive numbers along the way.

McDaniel can do a little bit of everything in the backcourt, which could make him an ideal combo guard playing alongside Dai Dai Ames in a purple uniform.

He is athletic enough to drive past defenders and score buckets at the rim, but he also shoots 36.8% from 3-point range and has good enough court vision to average nearly two assists for every turnover he commits.

He will help fill the void left in K-State’s rotation by Cam Carter, who decided to transfer to LSU. Many will expect McDaniel to make an immediate impact and start next season.

It will be interesting to see how he adapts to his new surroundings. Michigan only won eight games this past season and McDaniel was suspended from some of the Wolverines’ road games with former coach Juwan Howard explaining he needed to “work towards meeting several academic goals he has set and needs to meet.”

Perhaps a change of scenery will allow him to mature as a basketball player.

K-State will count on him to provide a scoring boost to its backcourt and to spread the ball around as a facilitator after he drives into the lane and attracts extra attention from defenders. That was something the Wildcats missed this past season as they won 19 games and missed out on the NCAA Tournament.

Tang is hard at work trying to rebuild the roster ahead of the 2024-25 season, and McDaniel is a valuable piece of those efforts.