Spartans to Face Gauntlet of Transfer Talent in Big Ten

The Michigan State Spartans dominated the Big Ten this past season with a 17-3 record and capturing the program's 17th conference title. It will not be so easy this upcoming season with the numerous elite transfer players that have entered the nation's top conference.

While the Spartans retained many of their same players from last year with just a few transfer additions, several Big Ten teams went to work and brought a haul of new players to their respective programs ahead of the 2025-26 season.

Let's break down who the Spartans are going to face this season.

Three of the top four transfer players in the 247Sports 2025 college basketball transfer portal rankings transferred into the Big Ten. It all starts with the No. 1 overall transfer, forward Yaxel Lendeborg, headed to Michigan.

Lendeborg withdrew from the NBA Draft after being talked about as a first-round pick. He will join up with the No. 26 transfer in Morez Johnson, coming over from Illinois. Michigan did not stop there, grabbing No. 46 transfer center Aday Mara and No. 60 guard Elliot Cadeau.

The No. 3 overall transfer is Bennett Stirtz, who joined the Iowa Hawkeyes after an unbelievable freshman year at Drake. Stirtz averaged 19.2 points on 49.8% shooting and just under 40% from 3, adding 5.7 assists. He will give the Spartans problems next year.

New Mexico transfer point guard Donovan Dent is the No. 4 transfer and went out west to play for Mick Cronin and UCLA. The Spartans recently faced Dent in the second round of last season's NCAA Tournament. He dropped 14 points and six assists and will see MSU at least once next year.

Other notable names to be wary of if you are MSU are Tucker Devries, ranked No. 18 amongst transfers and heading to Indiana from West Virginia, former Auburn Tigers star forward Chad Baker-Mazara (No. 21), who transferred to USC, and forward Andrej Stojakovic (No. 32), who joined the Illini.

There are multiple other players that are making the lateral move, in conference, playing for another Big Ten team, but we focused on just the new additions that MSU will face at least once this season. Going 17-3 is looking much more difficult after seeing the talent that is coming to the Big Ten.

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