Michigan got a needed bit of stability Tuesday night.
With Dusty May gone to the Dallas Mavericks and the Wolverines suddenly working to re-build their 2026-27 roster, Cincinnati transfer Moustapha Thiam has told Michigan he plans to stay with his signing, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. That means the 7-foot-2 center is sticking with the Wolverines even though May’s departure opened the door for him to jump back into the transfer portal in late July.
Thiam was brought in to help Michigan replace Aday Mara, who went No. 12 in the 2026 NBA Draft last week. He arrives with two seasons of eligibility left and plenty of production behind him.
This past season at Cincinnati, the Dakar, Senegal, native averaged 12.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. Before that, he spent his freshman year at Central Florida, where he put up 10.4 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game.
247Sports ranks Thiam as the No. 13 player in the 2026 Transfer Portal class and the No. 3 center. The appeal is obvious: length, athleticism and experience in the Big 12. Adam Finkelstein of 247Sports described the big man this way: "Thiam is nearly 7-foot-2 with a 7-foot-6 wingspan, making him massive, even by NBA standards," and added that he has the look of "that modern day big, who can stretch the floor in different ways, protect the rim, and provide some relative defensive versatility for his size.
"Offensively, he's 38-131 from behind the three-point line in two years of college basketball. The shot is elongated, with a slow release, but if he's left wide open, he can make it (40.7% unguarded catch-and-shoot threes last year at Cincinnati).
Simultaneously, he shoots 69% at the rim, although there are still some timing issues and moments where he could pressure it a bit more. Defensively, his shot-blocking numbers weren't quite as good this year as they were as a freshman at UCF, but what was notable is that he was making better decisions about when to contest shots and consequently a more reliable defensive rebounder.
He's not quite as twitchy as he was in high school, since filling out his frame, but he's still mobile for a guy his size and consequently not strictly a deep drop coverage ball-screen defender."
The numbers back up the upside. Last season, Thiam finished with a 54.9 effective field-goal percentage, a 20.5 percent defensive rebounding rate and a 6.8 percent block rate, all of them top-400 marks nationally among more than 2,200 qualified players.
He also showed a willingness to work away from the basket, hitting 48.1 percent of his 158 midrange attempts and 29.0 percent of his 52 three-point tries last season.
Thiam is now one of several players who have signaled they’re staying put. He joins Trey McKenney and Elliot Cadeau among those who either posted or told reporters they are sticking with the maize and blue, a sign that Michigan’s core is inclined to keep moving forward under interim head coach Mike Boynton Jr.
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