Michigan basketball snags former Ohio State standout Roddy Gayle Jr. in transfer portal

New Michigan basketball coach Dusty May promised his staff would search far and wide, leaving no stone unturned as it searched for the best available players to not just round out, but create the 2024-25 roster.

Apparently, that even means former Buckeyes.

Roddy Gayle Jr., a sophomore guard who spent the past two seasons at Ohio State, has committed to join the Wolverines basketball program. The guard announced his decision on social media early Monday morning.

Ironically, he’s not the only person with Ohio State ties to make the jump to Ann Arbor this spring: On the gridiron, former Buckeyes RB coach Tony Alford came north to join Sherrone Moore’s staff last month.

As for Gayle, he played 36 games (35 starts) as a sophomore, and he finished third on OSU in scoring at 13.5 points per game as he shot 44.9% from the floor and 28.4% on 3-pointers. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound shooting guard scored a career-high 32 points in an OT win over West Virginia in late December and scored 10 points or more in 28 games last season.

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Gayle scored 12 points on 3 of 8 shooting in a loss to U-M in Ann Arbor last January, but scored 15 points on 6 of 10 shooting with three rebounds and three assists in a Buckeyes win over the Wolverines in Columbus in March.

The No. 50 rated prospect and the third-ranked shooting guard in the country when he came out of Wasatch Academy in 2022, Gayle is now rated the No. 6 available shooting guard in the portal and No. 45 overall.

It continues a busy stretch for May and the Wolverines, who landed a commitment from four-star Justin Pippen, son of NBA superstar Scottie Pippen, as well as verbal pledges from transfer portal commits in former Yale center Danny Wolf, North Texas point guard Rubin Jones and Auburn point guard Tre Donaldson over the weekend.

Wolf, who stands 7-feet and 255 pounds, nearly averaged a double-double with 14.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in his sophomore campaign while Rubin Jones, a sizable lead guard at 6-foot-5, averaged 12.1 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game as a senior. Donaldson scored 6.7 points per game and had more than twice as many assists (39) as turnovers (19) last year.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball lands Ohio State’s Roddy Gayle in transfer portal