3rd Indiana basketball player, highest-rated of Mike Woodson era, enters transfer portal
BLOOMINGTON — With Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson stepping down, the highest-rated high school signee of his tenure is hitting the open market.
Sophomore forward Mackenzie Mgbako has entered the portal and will be "testing the waters of the NBA" after starting all but one game over the last two seasons for the Hoosiers. He announced the decision with a post on his Instagram account.
"After careful consideration and through reflection of my time at Indiana University, I would like to express my profound gratitude for the past two years," Mgbako wrote. "Wearing the iconic red and white has been a truly remarkable experience, and Indiana will always remain a formative part of my journey."
"Given recent changes in the coaching staff, I have decided in consultation with my family that testing the waters of the NBA is the best course of action. In choosing this path, I am able to retain my eligibility in the transfer portal while also keeping an eye on developments within the Indiana program."
The former McDonald's All-American landed in Bloomington as part of the team's 2023 signing class after asking out of his letter of intent at Duke. The five-star prospect reopened his recruitment and took visits to St. Johns and Kansas, but ended up as IU's highest-rated signee since Romeo Langford in 2018.
Mgbako shrugged off an uneven start to his freshman year in 2023-24 to win Co-Big Ten Freshman of the Year alongside Iowa's Owen Freeman. He led all Big Ten freshman in total points (377), points per game (12.2), 20-point games (3) and made free throws (82). He was particularly effective late in the year with 16.4 points and 2.6 made 3-pointers (40.9%) over IU's final seven games.
He looked ready to build off that success with a career-high 31 points in Indiana's season-opening win over SIU-Edwardsville only to experience pronounced struggles on both ends of the floor. He went 0 for 15 during a four-game stretch at midseason that included the first scoreless performance of his career in a 85-60 loss to Iowa.
“I'm not going to throw him to the curb because he's a big piece of what we do,” Woodson said.
Mgbako bounced back with strong performances against Northwestern (20 points) and Purdue (25 points) — he knocked down three 3-pointers in each game — but he had another scoreless night in the rematch against the Boilermakers and averaged just 8.9 points over the team's final eight games.
Indiana players have a 30-day window to enter the transfer portal with Woodson stepping down. Part of that timeline will overlap with the official spring transfer portal for men's basketball that runs from March 24 to April 22 this year.
The Hoosiers opted against accepting a bid to another postseason event after missing out on the NCAA Tournament as they turned their attention to hiring Woodson's replacement. Darian DeVries landed the job and was announced as IU's new coach on March 20.
Mgbako became the third player to announce he's entering the transfer portal, joining forward Malik Reneau and guard Gabe Cupps.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana basketball: Mackenzie Mgbako enters transfer portal
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