4 players Arizona men’s basketball should try for in the NCAA transfer portal

TUCSON, AZ - FEBRUARY 28: Kansas Jayhawks forward Bryson Tiller (15) blocks the shot of Arizona Wildcats guard Brayden Burries (5) during the second half of a men's basketball game between the Kansas Jayhawks and the Arizona Wildcats on February 28, 2026, at McKale Center at ALKEME Arena in Tucson, AZ. (Photo by Christopher Hook/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

College basketball’s free agency season is well underway, with more hundreds of players entering the NCAA transfer portal since it officially opened on April 7. More will enter before it closes on April 21, but for the most part the vast majority of Division I athletes who intend to transfer have made done so.

Arizona has seen two of its own go portaling, as freshmen Dwayne Aristode and Sidi Gueye have decided to transfer after one season, while it so far has secured two transfer in former Washington guard JJ Mandaquit and ex-North Carolina guard Derek Dixon. There are plenty of spots for the Wildcats to fill, and the portal is where these replacements figure to come from.

Under Tommy Lloyd the UA signed 12 Division I transfers in his first five seasons, most notably Caleb Love, Jaden Bradley and Tobe Awaka. The Wildcats staff has mostly hit on these additions, and for the 2026-27 team is most likely targeting specific players like Mandaquit, which wasn’t on anyone’s radar before he committed on Monday, and Dixon.

We’ve got our own short list. Below are the four transfers Arizona should pursue in the portal:

SG John Blackwell, Wisconsin

The 6-foot-4 Blackwell has already been linked to the UA, reportedly one of the six schools he is interested in along with Alabama, Duke, Illinois, Louisville and UCLA, with the plan to take two visits. He’s also going through the NBA Draft process and would decide whether to stay in or come back to college before the draft combine on May 4.

Arizona is probably not the favorite for Blackwell, but he would be a great get who is a proven scorer.

As a junior he averaged 19.1 points per game, 7th-best in the Big Ten, and he shot 38.9 percent from 3 with 96 makes. He notched five 30-point games in 2025-26, including against Final Four qualifier Illinois, and he scored 26 in a win over NCAA champion Michigan.

Blackwell averaged 15.5 points in two games against the UA, including 17 at McKale Center as a freshman off the bench in 2023.

SF Milan Momcilovic, Iowa State

A regular criticism of Arizona this past season was its lack of 3-point shooting, its 5.9 made 3s per game among the fewest in the country. So why not add someone who has made more than that in a game nine times in his career, including once against the Wildcats?

The 6-foot-8 Momcilovic led the Big 12 with 136 triples in 2025-26, also leading the conference with a 48.7 percent accuracy from deep. In three seasons at Iowa State he made 260 3s, at a 42.8 percent clip, going 8 for 14 from outside in the epic Big 12 semifinal matchup with the UA in March.

Momcilovic is also going through the NBA Draft process, and is very likely to stay in there. But if not the Wildcats should take a run at him to help diversify the offense.

SF Paulius Murauskas, Saint Mary’s

Arizona has had its fair share of players transfer out of the program under Lloyd, but if there was one it wished it could have held on to the 6-foot-8 Murauskas is at the top of the list. In limited playing time as a freshman he shot 51.9 percent but didn’t get to show off his entire offensive or the ability to clean up on the glass.

That happened in his two seasons at Saint Mary’s, where he started 67 games and averaged 15.1 points and 7.6 rebounds while making 80.5 percent of his free throws. The Gaels’ leading scorer on a team that won the West Coast Conference regular season title, Murauskas had 15 games with at least 20 points and seven double-doubles, including a pair of 30-point, 15-rebound games.

The UA staff saw something in Murauskas when they signed him out of Lithuania three years ago. That he hasn’t already followed his coach to ASU is an indication he’s looking for something bigger than a bottom-of-the-pack power-conference team, and this is a homecoming that would be fun to see.

PF Bryson Tiller, Kansas

When Arizona entered Allen Fieldhouse with a 23-0 record and learned that star freshman Darryn Peterson wasn’t going to play for Kansas, the likelihood the best start in school history would continue shot up. But it was a different Jayhawks freshman that ended up handing the Wildcats their first loss, as the 6-foot-10 Tiller had 18 points and eight rebounds in one of the best performances of his young career.

Tiller ended up averaging 7.9 points and 6.9 rebounds, his 44.9 percent shooting not ideal for someone of his size, but there’s a lot of promise there. At 240 pounds he’s a slightly bigger version of Awaka, who Arizona developed into the best offensive rebounder in the country and the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year.

Pairing someone like Tiller with Motiejus Krivas, assuming he doesn’t enter the NBA Draft, would once again give the UA a formidable frontcourt.

Have some other suggestions for who Arizona should target in the portal? Let us know in the comments!