The transfer portal allows college basketball players to explore new opportunities and build new homes for themselves if they see a change is needed. It’s been used for a long time and shows no signs of slowing down. The Utah Utes men’s basketball team will look to be active this year after losing quite a few players.
Here is a list of Utah players leaving and coming via the Transfer Portal.
Players Leaving Utah
So far, a whopping nine players have decided to leave the Utes for better opportunities within the transfer portal.
Keanu Dawes — The 6’9″ forward transferred to Utah last offseason after his freshman season at Rice. This season, Dawes played in 30 of 32 games, starting just once. He averaged 8.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 18.3 minutes per game. He was solid in two collegiate seasons but hasn’t lived up to the expectations.
Miro Little — The 6’3″ guard transferred to Utah last season after his true freshman season at Baylor. He played in 32 games and started 12 during the 2024-25 season. Little averaged 5.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game this season.
Jake Wahlin — The 6’10” guard took significant strides during his sophomore season at Utah. He has started 22 games this year for the Utes. He’s averaged 6.2 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game, being one of the team’s more consistent performers.
Lawson Lovering — After transferring from Colorado, the 7’0″ center has played the past two seasons with Utah. This year, Lovering has shown marked improvement while averaging 8.1 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while starting 25 games.
Hunter Erickson — The 6’3″ guard appeared in 32 games, averaging 3.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. He is coming off one of his best seasons, averaging 18.3 minutes per game.
Joul Karram — The 6’10” center enters the portal after a freshman year, where he saw very limited playing time. He averaged 0.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in eight games played, averaging 3.6 minutes. A talented, young, big man with a ton of upside.
Ayomide Bamisile — The 6’7″ forward is coming off the heels of his freshman season, where he averaged 1.3 points and 0.3 rebounds in his minimal six games played. He averaged 2.5 minutes. The potential is there, but he didn’t see the court a lot at all.
Jayden Teat– The 6’2″ guard is entering the transfer portal following his dismissal from the team during the season. He didn’t touch the court at all this past season and is looking to go somewhere where he can get consistent minutes. He averaged 1.3 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in his freshman year.
Brandon Haddock– The 6’1″ guard is entering the transfer portal after not touching the court at all this season. He played in a reserve role last season, as well. He is entering the portal as a graduate transfer.
Players Joining Utah
None yet.
Impact On Team
The Utah men’s basketball team is in a weird state right now. The roster is currently in a turnover period, with the head coach position transitioning from Craig Smith to Alex Jensen.
Dawes, Little, Wahlin, and Lovering will be the hardest guys to replace. However, expect Utah to be active this offseason in figuring out their new roster from starters to depth.
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Moving from Smith to Jensen, it’s tough to tell what the future looks like right now. Jensen is a talented head coach, and he could definitely bring Utah back to a NCAA March Madness tournament.
However, it should be interesting to see how the roster shapes up with nine names leaving. Despite some names being bigger than others, this is a lot of holes for one roster to fill.
