Michigan PG transfer Dug McDaniel commits to Kansas State
Michigan Wolverines basketball point guard transfer Dug McDaniel entered the NCAA transfer portal March 18 and has announced his commitment April 3 to Kansas State, where he’ll play for head coach Jerome Tang.
McDaniel entered the portal just days after Michigan cut ties with head coach Juwan Howard. The Wolverines have since hired Dusty May from Florida Atlantic.
Kansas State is entering its third season under Tang, after going 19-15 with an NIT berth in 2023-24. McDaniel has two years of eligibility remaining and slots as the 13th-best player in the transfer portal, per On3’s rankings.
McDaniel is one of four Wolverines to have entered the portal since the end of the season, joining sophomore guard George Washington III, junior forward Tarris Reed Jr. and sophomore forward Youssef Khayat.
The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder led the Wolverines with 16.3 points and 4.7 assists per game in 2023-24. He added 3.7 rebounds per contest. McDaniel shot 44 percent on twos, 36.8 percent on 152 three-point attempts and 77.4 percent from the free throw line.
On the year, McDaniel had 24 double-figure scoring games, with six of 20-plus and two of 30-plus. He hit the 33-point mark on two occasions, in overtime against Oregon and in double-overtime against Florida, both loses.
McDaniel served a rare six-game road-only suspension from mid-January to late-February, hampering Michigan’s chances to win away from Crisler Center. The Wolverines dropped all six outings. They also lost 18 of their final 20 and nine straight to end the season 8-24, logging the most losses in a year in program history.
McDaniel made Michigan’s offense go when he was in the lineup last season. He took 27.7 percent of the team’s shots while he was on the floor, had a 27.6-percent assist rate and also made 151 field goals in 26 outings.
As a sophomore, McDaniel produced 0.954 points per possession in ball screens (including passes), which ranked in the 71st percentile in the country. He ranked second in the nation with 10 ball-screen possessions per game, according to Synergy.
The Washington D.C. native was thrust into a starting role as a freshman in 2022-23, after starting point guard Jaelin Llewellyn went down in December. McDaniel opened 26 of 34 games in Michigan’s season that ended with an 18-16 record and NIT appearance. That year, he averaged 8.6 points, 3.6 assists and 3.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 39.9 percent on twos and 35.5 percent on 93 three-point attempts.
McDaniel was a four-star recruit out of Fairfax (Va.) Paul VI Catholic, ranking as the No. 85 overall player in the 2022 class, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He also checked in as the 12th-best point guard in the country and the No. 4 player in his state.
