Men’s basketball: Gophers add 7-foot-2 German center via Michigan transfer

The Gophers men’s basketball program took another transfer portal addition from the Michigan Wolverines on Friday.

Hours after guard Winters Grady committed to the U, center Malick Kordel joined him at Minnesota. The 7-foot-2, 275-pound native of Oberhausen, Germany fills the Gophers’ need for a big man.

“Let’s get it!” Kordel wrote on social media.

Kordel played sparingly in only 14 games last season, averaging 1.2 points, 1.5 rebounds and 0.4 blocks in 4.1 minutes per game. He shot 57% from the field across 14 games for a NCAA national championship team that was stacked with big men.

Kordel began playing handball and turned to basketball in 2021. He played for a few teams internationally before coming to the U.S. and did not have a star rating when he went to Ann Arbor, Mich.

Kordel, Grady and Nolan Groves are the U’s three new additions via the transfer portal, with two more scholarship openings available. Point guard tops the list of positional needs.

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