Former Michigan point guard Dug McDaniel finds new home at Kansas State

Former Michigan basketball point guard Dug McDaniel has found his next home: Manhattan.

Not the Big Apple, but the Little Apple. McDaniel, who will be a junior with two years of remaining eligibility, announced on social media Wednesday he will play for Kansas State next season and coach Jerome Tang in the Big 12.

“The wait over (hearts) #committed,” McDaniel posted on both X and Instagram with a video montage of him in Wildcats clothing.

McDaniel led the Wolverines with 16.3 points and 4.7 assists per game last season, which included multiple 30-point outings, highlighted by his night with 33 points, eight assists and five rebounds in a double-overtime loss to Florida.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pound point guard shot 41% from the floor and 36.8% from the 3point line on more than six attempts per game and had just shy of a 2-to-1 assist-toturnover ratio U-M best offensive player, though his season was far from smooth.

The DeMatha Catholic High School product was placed on academic suspension in early January, forcing him to miss six road games. It threw an even bigger wrench on a season that was going completely off the rails, U-M went 0-6 in games away from Crisler Center while he was out of the lineup and went 2-15 in the 17 games played after his suspension.

McDaniel’s career started off quickly. Seen as a depth option early in his first season, McDaniel got extended playing time after a Jaelin Llewellyn knee injury, and he averaged 10.0 points and more than 4.0 assists from the moment he was put into the starting lineup as a freshman.

There was a lot of expectation he would build on it and take a sophomore step. Though he did in some ways, it was derailed by the off-court troubles.

“Obviously, it didn’t go as I planned, as we planned,” McDaniel told reporters following U-M’s season-ending loss to Penn State in the Big Ten tournament. “In the beginning we were all on the same page and it looked great, then some guys were doing this, some guys were doing that, and we could never pull it back together.”

One-by-one, U-M players like McDaniel, Tarris Reed Jr. and George Washington III hit the transfer portal. Then, last month athletic director Warde Manuel hired former Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May the next coach of the Wolverines.

There were questions about what that would mean for the roster, though it felt unlikely McDaniel fit in the picture.

When asked about his future plans at the end of the season, McDaniel said he’ll, “worry about that later.”

Later has arrived.