Divine Ugochukwu may have traded one crowded backcourt for a situation that could get messy fast.
The former Michigan State backup point guard left East Lansing this offseason just before the portal deadline and followed Tre Holloman to LSU, giving Will Wade another transfer guard after Wade had recruited Holloman there last offseason. For Ugochukwu, the move looked like a path to a bigger role and more minutes. Now, with LSU’s roster sitting at only four players pending waivers for international players and pros seeking more college eligibility, that decision looks a lot shakier.
LSU still has time to add bodies before the season starts in three months, and it’s obvious the Tigers will need to. Right now, they can’t even put together a full starting five. Even if more players come through, there’s still a real possibility this team ends up thin enough to struggle badly in the SEC and have a hard time getting to the NCAA Tournament.
That leaves Ugochukwu in a tricky spot. He may get the kind of workload he wanted - probably 30-plus minutes a night - but it could come on a team with almost no depth and plenty of uncertainty.
At Michigan State, the picture was much cleaner. If Ugochukwu had stayed with Tom Izzo for the 2026-27 season, he would have been on a legitimate national title contender and still had a solid role, somewhere in the 15-20 minute range. He would have had to compete with Carlos Medlock Jr., Kur Teng, Jordan Scott, and Jasiah Jervis, but that’s a far different problem than landing in a roster situation this bare.
It’s not hard to see why he wanted out. The chance to avoid a fight for minutes was there, and a starting job likely came with the LSU pitch. But after watching Holloman make the same leap to Wade, Ugochukwu now finds himself attached to a roster that could be one of the roughest in the SEC if the NCAA approvals don’t come through.
The choice was clear enough. The results, though, are still to be determined.
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Michigan State does have options at rush end, with Kenny Soares Jr., Isaac Smith, Kekai Burnett and Trey Lisle all in the mix, but Lafaele still stands out because of how quickly he can tilt a snap. The Spartans are likely to use him as a specialist rather than ask him to do everything, and that makes the next step even more interesting: if he can keep building back toward full strength, he could end up changing the ceiling of the entire front without needing a huge workload. [Read more 🡒]