Editor’s note: This story was updated to include reports that Ezra Ausar is entering the transfer portal.
When the University of Utah men’s basketball team takes the floor for the first time under new head coach Alex Jensen, there’s probably going to be a lot of new faces.
Between graduating seniors and a bevy of players already in the transfer portal, Jensen, the former Runnin’ Ute legend, faces a challenge in fielding his first time for the 2025-26 season.
While Jensen isn’t working full time as Utah’s head coach — he’ll do that once his time as an assistant coach with the Dallas Mavericks comes to a close, perhaps even in a couple weeks — he’s already brought on a pair of helpers to get recruiting heading in the right direction.
Jensen has already announced one of his assistants — noted recruiting guru Raphael Chillious — and has his general manager, longtime NBA executive and GM Wes Wilcox.
Those two are leading the efforts behind building the Utes’ roster for the upcoming season, a task that’s already at hand with the transfer portal window open for business.
Jensen stressed the importance of building relationships when asked about recruiting during his introductory press conference.
“That’s a relationship-based thing and now it’s evolved, because you have agents — there’s a whole world of people — and there’s relationships that you have to have where you can get to the meat of the kid, if that makes sense, get the real story,” Jensen said.
“That’s a relationship-based thing and now it’s evolved, because you have agents — there’s a whole world of people — and there’s relationships that you have to have where you can get to the meat of the kid, if that makes sense, get the real story.”
— Utah basketball coach Alex Jensen
“It’s going to be a lot of work, and I know that. I’m excited again,” he continued. “It’s hard finishing up in Dallas, but I’ll do my due diligence to get a staff that understands, that knows that because there’s a lot of work that needs to be done, and it never stops, and that’s where a lot of the wars are won is in recruiting.”
For the immediate future, what kind of roster turnover are the Utes looking at for the upcoming season?
Here’s a look at seniors leaving the program, players already reportedly in the transfer portal, who’s currently in line to play for Utah next season, and what recruits could be joining them.
Keep in mind that this season, the NCAA is allowing teams to have up to 15 players on scholarship beginning with the 2025-26 season. Previously, that number had been 13.
Seniors likely on their way out
- Gabe Madsen, guard
- Mason Madsen, guard
- Caleb Lohner, forward
- Lawson Lovering, center
- Hunter Erickson, guard
- Brandon Haddock, guard
The “likely” in the subhead above only applies to one player — Lovering.
The Madsen twins had one season together at Utah, after Mason Madsen transferred in from Boston College.
“Just a couple of kids from Chippewa Falls, WI that got to live out the dream together. What more can you really ask for?” Mason said in an Instagram post Friday.
It’ll be interesting to see where their careers take the Madsen brothers. Gabe leaves Utah as the program’s all-time 3-point makes leader, and he was a vital part of the team the past four seasons. He scored nearly 1,500 points for the Utes and made 313 career 3-pointers.
Lohner, who joined the team in December at the end of the football season, is pursuing a career in the NFL.
Lovering, meanwhile, reportedly entered the transfer portal after two seasons as a starter at Utah, following his transfer from Colorado. He is seeking a medical hardship waiver for one more year of eligibility and would consider a return to Utah, according to Made Hoops director of scouting Max Feldman.
Erickson, who was a fifth-year guard this past season but has an extra year of eligibility thanks to the NCAA’s blanket waiver that gave players who had competed at the juco level one more year, entered the portal and already announced he is headed to Hawaii to finish his collegiate career.
Haddock is a walk-on who’s been with the Utah program dating back to 2019.
Others reportedly in the transfer portal
According to various reports, with Verbal Commits as the leading source, these other eight players who were on Utah’s roster during the 2024-25 season are in the transfer portal:
- Ezra Ausar, forward
- Miro Little, guard
- Jake Wahlin, forward
- Zach Keller, forward
- Joul Karram, center
- Jerry Huang, guard
- Ayomide Bamisile, forward
- Jayden Teat, guard
It should be noted that any number of players on this list could be back in a Utah uniform next season if they withdraw from the transfer portal and return to the program. That is, of course, if the coaching staff chooses to hold a scholarship for them after they’ve entered the portal.
Ausar, the East Carolina transfer, was the Utes’ top addition out of the transfer portal last offseason. He ended up averaging 12.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game, all while shooting 51.8% from the floor.
He has a knack for getting to the line — his 197 free-throw attempts were 84 more than the next closest Ute, though his 62.4% FT percentage needs work.
Late Friday night, Ausar became the latest who’s reportedly exploring his options by entering the portal. He’s understandably someone who should garner plenty of attention.
He’ll be a senior next year.
Wahlin was the first Utah player to announce he was headed to the transfer portal, though the sophomore who can play multiple positions left open the possibility of returning to Utah.
The 6-foot-10 sophomore forward would be a valuable asset to retain in Jensen’s first season. During his second collegiate season, Wahlin took major strides in his development and started 23 games while averaging 6.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game as a glue guy for the Utes.
“I’m just doing my due diligence with circumstances that have taken place toward the end of the season, but fortunately, I have the chance to play while still being in the transfer portal,” he said, prior to Utah participating in the College Basketball Crown.
Little had his ups and downs this season after transferring from Baylor. He had a career-high 21 points in Utah’s loss at BYU on March 8 and he led the Utes in assists with 96 (2.9 per game), though he lost his spot in the starting lineup a game into Big 12 play and shot just 33.7% from the field.
Keller, at times, was asked to be the backup center this season after transferring from Wake Forest, and that wasn’t his forte. He played best at the four, and he had his moments as a front-court depth piece.
Keller will be a senior next year.
Of the others, Karram was a late scholarship addition last offseason and did not see the court much — he’s viewed more as a long-term project.
Of note: While there haven’t been any reports about his entrance into the portal or any other future plans, walk-on guard Brady Smith, the son of former Utah coach Craig Smith, isn’t expected back at the school.
As of now, players suiting up for the Utes next season
The NCAA’s spring transfer portal window for men’s college basketball opened on March 24 and will close on April 22. That gives athletes another two and a half weeks to enter the portal.
Unless things change — and they can change quickly in the transfer portal era — these players are in line to be on Utah’s roster next season.
As of Friday afternoon, it’s a group that includes one transfer commit in former Fairleigh Dickinson guard Terrence Brown.
- Keanu Dawes, forward
- Mike Sharavjamts, guard
- Terrence Brown, guard
- Ibi Traore, forward
- Alvin Jackson III, guard
Dawes reportedly entered the portal last weekend, then withdrew his name days later.
That’s a big win for the Utes. The 6-foot-9 sophomore who transferred from Rice came on strong to end the season, averaging 13.1 points and 10.0 rebounds over Utah’s final six games.
On the season, Dawes averaged 8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds while shooting 61.4% for the floor. He was also 10th in the Big 12 in defensive rebounding (4.5 per game).
Dawes, who will be a junior next year, is a solid piece for Jensen to build around.
Sharavjamts started at point guard for Utah through nearly the entire Big 12 portion of the schedule, and like Little, he had his ups and downs as a first-year transfer from San Francisco.
Even so, he was fifth on the team in scoring (7.2 points per game) and at 6-foot-9, he showed the versatility to make a positive impact in a variety of ways — from scoring to rebounding to defensively — when things were at their peak.
If Sharavjamts can continue to improve, he’d be a compelling piece on the Utah roster next season, though the Utes need to bring in additional point guard experience.
Sharavjamts will be a senior next season.
Brown is the first commit of the Jensen era — he had a Zoom visit with Utah on Wednesday, according to 247 Sports’ Dushawn London, and committed to the Utes on Friday, per On3′s Joe Tipton.
The 6-foot-3 guard was named Northeast Conference’s Most Improved Player this season, as he averaged 20.6 points (eighth nationally), 5.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game.
Brown shot 44.8% from the field as a sophomore for Fairleigh Dickinson and has two years of eligibility remaining.
Traore never got a chance to show Utah fans what he could do this season. Before the year began, he suffered a season-ending injury — a real blow, considering he was in contention for considerable playing time as a true freshman.
Traore told Runnin’ Hoops podcast recently he is anticipating to stick around at Utah.
He joined the Utes as a four-star talent who had previously signed with Oregon before re-opening his recruitment, and he could be a key piece in Utah’s front court next season.
Jackson, meanwhile, is Utah’s lone signee in its 2024 class. He played this past season at Salt Lake Community College, where he averaged 6.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 41% from the floor.
Recruiting buzz
What are some names in the current transfer/high school market to watch, in relation to the Utes?
Considering the few handful of players who might return on the team’s 2024-25 season, there should be a heavy amount of transfers on the team this upcoming season.
Last year, the Utes added seven players via the transfer portal.
Here’s a list of players who’ve been tied to Utah over the past couple of weeks, along with Brown.
- Isaiah Watts, Washington State guard
- Camron McDowell, Northwestern Oklahoma State (Division II) guard
- Kelvin Odih, four-star forward, 2025 prospect
- Jayden Brewer, Florida International guard
- Amsal Delalic, Pittsburgh forward
- KJ Lewis, Arizona guard
- Naas Cunningham, Alabama forward
- Kaylon Mason, Ranger College (juco) forward
Watts visited Utah last weekend, according to both KSL Sports’ Steve Bartle and 247 Sports’ Travis Branham. Watts, a 6-foot-3 combo guard, prepped at South Kent, a boarding school in Connecticut, where he was coached by Chillious.
Watts averaged 11.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game as a sophomore this season.
Odih, like Watts, was coached by Chillious at South Kent. The 6-foot-4 small forward prospect previously signed with West Virginia but reopened his recruitment after coach Darian DeVries left for Indiana.
He is rated the No. 13 small forward prospect — and No. 65 nationally — in the 2025 recruiting class in 247 Sports’ composite rankings.
Bartle reported that Odih is planning a visit to Utah after the current recruiting dead period, and other frontrunners on his list include Houston, Texas A&M, Marquette, Texas, Creighton and Oklahoma State, per On3′s Jamie Shaw.
McDowell shared on Instagram a video from a visit he took to Utah last weekend. Other schools that have reached out to McDowell include Mississippi State, Cal, New Mexico, Rutgers and Cincinnati as of March 24, according to The Portal Report.
McDowell is one of the top D-II transfers available in the portal. As a redshirt junior, he averaged 27.3 points per game while shooting 51.3% from the floor and 39% from 3. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per contest.
Utah is one of five schools that had reached out to Brewer — along with Wake Forest, Temple, Grand Canyon and St. Bonaventure — as of March 30, according to 247 Sports’ Dushawn London.
Delalic, who hails from Bosnia & Herzegovina, averaged 3.8 points and 2.0 rebounds as a freshman this season at Pitt.
He visited Utah last weekend, according to Bartle, and Utah was among five schools — along with Utah State, Clemson, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin — to reach out to Delalic as of March 30, according to The Portal Report.
League Ready’s Sam Kayser reported Tuesday that Utah is one of 18 schools that Lewis has received interest from, including schools like Kansas, UCLA, Clemson, Texas A&M, Texas, Syracuse, Xavier and NC State, among others.
Lewis, who averaged 10.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game as the Wildcats’ sixth man this season, is No. 18 in ESPN’s rankings of the top basketball transfer portal players.
Cunningham redshirted as a freshman at Alabama this season. He will have four years of eligibility remaining.
He was rated a four-star prospect coming out of high school last year. Utah was one of 10 schools — along with programs like UCLA, Virginia, Florida State and San Diego State — to reach out quickly to Cunningham this week once he entered the portal, according to basketball insider Shaun C. Jenkins.
Mason averaged 14.8 points and 9.0 rebounds per game this season for Ranger, a junior college in Texas. Utah was one of a dozen schools to reach out to him, according to Recruits Zone’s Blake Smith, though the Utes were the only power conference school in that mix.
A handful of other players — Quinnipiac’s Amarri Monroe, Omaha’s Marquel Sutton and international prospect Harun Zrno, a recent Indiana decommit — were linked to Utah at one point but have since narrowed their focus on other schools, while USF guard Jayden Reid, who also received interest from Utah, committed to Northwestern.
