Kansas State Wildcats lose starting point guard Dug McDaniel to transfer portal
When Kansas State’s basketball season came to an end last month at the Big 12 Tournament, head coach Jerome Tang said he wanted to take a new approach with his roster.
Instead of bringing in a boatload of new transfers, he wanted to retain as many players as possible. If the Wildcats could maintain a solid foundation of talented players, Tang hoped that they could also build from the ground up and win with a long-term approach that valued the program over the team.
It was a nice idea, but it already feels like a pipe dream.
The Wildcats lost three additional players to the transfer portal on Monday, capped by the surprise departure of starting point guard Dug McDaniel. With him on the way out, the Wildcats may not return a single starter. Overall, they may not bring back more than four players.
Just like that, Tang and K-State are looking at another roster rebuild.
In the past month, the Wildcats were unable to retain a pair of valuable starting guards in Brendan Hausen and McDaniel. Hausen, who has announced plans to transfer to Iowa, was the team’s leading 3-point shooter last season. McDaniel, who began his college career at Michigan, will transfer after he averaged 11.4 points and 4.9 assists per game during his lone year in Manhattan.
K-State could have built around them with a few impact transfers in the front court.
Now, the Wildcats are staring at a brand new starting lineup next season.
There is hope that senior guard Max Jones will receive an extra year of eligibility, but he will need to receive a waiver from the NCAA to continue playing. Memphis transfer Tyreek Smith is in the same boat. Their futures remain up in the air.
Reserve players Macaleab Rich, Ugonna Onyenso and Baye Fall have all announced their plans to transfer.
As of now, the only returning players on the K-State roster are junior guard CJ Jones, sophomore forward Mobi Ikegwuruka, freshman guard David Castillo and sophomore forward Taj Manning.
Tang will have between seven and nine available scholarships to use on new players.
A few roster spots are already spoken for. Monmouth transfer Abdi Bashir has committed to K-State. And the Wildcats are set to welcome high school recruits Exavier Wilson and Ashton Magee.
The pressure is now on Tang to bring in new talent to Manhattan via the transfer portal, because the Wildcats aren’t retaining much of a nucleus from last year’s squad.
K-State Wildcats basketball tracker
Outgoing transfers:
Incoming transfers:
This story was originally published April 14, 2025 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Kansas State Wildcats lose starting point guard Dug McDaniel to transfer portal."