Mikey Williams joins Mike Bibby, Shaquille O'Neal-led Sacramento State team out of transfer portal

UCF transfer wing Mikey Williams has committed to play for Sacramento State in the 2025-26 season, according to a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania. He played one season with the Knights and has three years of eligibility remaining.

Williams’ commitment comes after Mike Bibby was hired as coach of the Hornets and Shaquille O’Neal was named general manager. Williams played in 18 games this past season with five starts, averaging 5.1 points per game.

Mikey Williams originally began his college career with Memphis in the 2023-24 season. However, he did not appear in any games as he took a redshirt.

The 6-foot-3 guard played high school basketball at San Ysidro (CA), where he was a four-star prospect. He ranked as the No. 51 overall player and No. 13 shooting guard in the 2023 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Report: Shaquille O’Neal accepting Sacramento State general manager role

Shaquille O’Neal has reportedly accepted the general manager role for Sacramento State’s men’s basketball team, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania. This will be a voluntary role for O’Neal, according to Charania.

His son, Shaqir O’Neal, plays for Hornets under head coach Mike Bibby. Shaqir committed to the Hornets in March, two days after entering the transfer portal after playing one season for Florida A&M. He began his career at Texas Southern, where he he played two seasons.

Bibby was hired on March 24. However, Bibby has coaching experience in the past but only at the high school level. Now, he’s gets the opportunity with a Division I school, and is bringing in one of the most recognizable names in basketball to help lead his program. As of this report, it has yet to be revealed what O’Neal’s day-to-day responsibilities will look like.

The Hornets have not made an NCAA Tournament appearance at D-I and recently saw head coach David Patrick step down to become the associate head coach at LSU under Matt McMahon. Michael Czepil took over as the interim head coach for the 2024-25 season, and Sacramento State went 7-25 before Bibby was brought aboard as the full-time head coach.

Sacramento State has been at the forefront of the college athletics world in recent months. On the football side of things, they brought in UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marrion as head coach after making a strong push to land longtime NFL quarterback Michael Vick. Moreover, they’re attempting to make the move from the FCS level, to FBS.

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this report.