Ricky Liburd is staying put in Ann Arbor.
Michigan men’s basketball wing Ricky Liburd will remain with the Wolverines after this offseason’s coaching change, with college basketball insider Jon Rothstein reporting Monday afternoon that the redshirt freshman is set to play in Ann Arbor this winter. The update came after Mike Boynton Jr. was promoted to interim in place of Dusty May.
“Michigan's Ricky Liburd is staying with the Wolverines in 2026-27,” Rothstein wrote. “Another huge for development for Mike Boynton. Liburd redshirted last year and is considered a potential breakout candidate in Ann Arbor.”
The twist is that coaching upheaval is part of the reason Liburd ended up at Michigan in the first place. He had originally committed to Coastal Carolina, but that changed in May 2025 when staff turnover hit that program. Michigan assistant Kyle Church stepped in.
“I committed to Coastal Carolina and the coach that recruited me, he left or got fired - I'm not really sure what happened. But it was bad communication because I really didn't know. But then two more coaches ended up leaving, so it was just a sign you to move in a different direction,” Liburd recounted on a recent episode of Go Blue Hoops with Tim McCormick.
“Coach Church ended up seeing me in an open run. And he liked my game. He he said I might have an opportunity to play at this school, and I jumped on that opportunity.”
Because he arrived late, Liburd joined a roster already packed with talent and knew redshirting was the likely path. That’s exactly how his first season played out.
“I was recruited to redshirt and taking the year to develop with the best developmental program, I feel like, in the country,” Liburd said. “I came in having a plan on working every day, being on the scout team in practice, giving our guys a good look, while also like working on my game and trying to expand what I could do.”
That year was about building strength and learning from the veterans around him, especially Nimari Burnett and Roddy Gayle Jr., as Michigan went on to win a championship.
“I'm watching how they move on the court, watching how they play defense, how they switch, what they do to help the team win and those small things - try to adding that to my game next year to help our team win,” Liburd said.
Liburd sees himself as an athletic 3-and-D wing, but he’s quick to point to defense as his calling card.
“I can shoot, I can play defense, but I feel like my niche is my defense,” he said. “And I do the intangibles, like I make the energy plays or if we need a stop, I'll go get that stop.
If we need a rebound, I'll go get that rebound. Take a charge.
And maybe even setting a good screen to get somebody else open. I'm just all part of impacting the game as much as I can.”
Earlier this offseason, Michigan assistant Drew Williamson drew a comparison to Burnett, pointing to the same kind of versatile, low-maintenance impact.
“Ricky, you can kind of look at Nimari's skill set where he's such a good cutter off the ball, catch-and-shoot threes, being able to go offensive rebound, and then defend multiple positions,” Williamson said of Liburd.
“I thought Nimari maybe didn't get enough credit for his deflections, his defensive awareness on the floor. That would be somebody that you could possibly compare Ricky to where you'll see him being able to sneak back door and get a lob or just a simple cut in transition.
And then he'll be in those corners and you'll see catch-and-shoot threes from him. So there'll be some similarities in that aspect for Ricky.”
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