Michigan basketball reaches out to Vanderbilt transfer Jason Rivera-Torres
New Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May posed for a picture in front of his desk, with blank walls all around him. He hasn’t had time to decorate or even reflect on leading Florida Atlantic for U-M, he said in interviews Tuesday, because he has to much work ahead, attempting to build a roster and staff all at the same time.
May has gotten to work on the recruiting trail, and that includes in the NCAA transfer portal, since officially being announced as Michigan’s coach Sunday (March 24).
According to PDT Scouting, May has made contact with Vanderbilt guard Jason Rivera-Torres, who entered the transfer portal March 26. Michigan is one of many schools to reach out. The 6-foot-6, 180-pounder has three seasons of eligibility remaining after playing one in Nashville for head man Jerry Stackhouse, who was fired March 14.
May and Rivera-Torres developed a connection during the high school recruiting process. Florida Atlantic was a finalist for his services, along with Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Fordham and San Diego. Rivera-Torres took an official visit to FAU last year.
Rivera-Torres started two of his 29 games for the Commodores in 2023-24, averaging 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game with 18 assists and 27 turnovers. He shot 41.7 percent on twos (40-of-96), 24.1 percent on threes (21-of-87) and 76.4 percent on free throws.
The Bronx, N.Y., native saw 72.3 percent of his field goal attempts come on jump shots, according to Synergy. However, he was sporadic at shooting them, with a 38 effective field goal percentage on catch-and-shoot jumpers, ranking in the 15th percentile nationally. He also finished on only 45.2 percent of his shots at the rim.
Rivera-Torres shot quite a bit from the outside. Despite ranking sixth on the team in minutes played (446), he shot the fourth-most threes (87). Over half (36) of his 64 catch-and-shoot jump shots were contested, on which he connected at a 19.4-percent rate. He was 32.1 percent on unguarded catch-and-shoot jumpers — slightly better.
A John Marshall (Va.) High product, Rivera-Torres was a three-star recruit in the 2023 class, ranking as the No. 187 overall player in the country per the On3 Industry Ranking. He checked in as the No. 41 shooting guard nationally and the fourth-best player in Virginia.
Rivera-Torres is also an actor, having starred in “Swagger,” an Apple TV+ series with Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant as one of the executive produce.
May said at his Michigan introductory press conference that he will be careful about who he brings in to Ann Arbor. But he did mention familiarity and trust as key factors. And the prior relationship from the prep recruiting process could be a boost with Rivera-Torres.
“Recruiting now in the portal is is more like speed dating than the traditional recruiting,” May said. “I think it’s very, very valuable to have a network of people that you trust, and they trust you. Hopefully, between former players and former coaches, our program is going to have thousands of agents a working for us. When I say agents, people that are going to say great things about us and want players to play for us.
“So we’re going to cast a big net, then we’ll narrow it down. We’ll be very, very patient because we’re not going to take the wrong guys just because we have several spots. We’re going to be very thorough…”
