Tre Donaldson’s shot to send Michigan basketball to Big Ten final
Watch Tre Donaldson’s end-to-end rush to send Michigan basketball to Big Ten tourney final in Indianapolis on Saturday, March 15, 2025.
The Michigan basketball roster overhaul is fully underway.
Point guard Tre Donaldson, the team’s third leading scorer and primary ball handler, has decided to enter the transfer portal, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Free Press on condition on anonymity because it’s not official. Donaldson, who appeared in and started all 37 U-M games last season, put up 11.3 points, 4.1 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game.
The former Auburn guard transferred to Michigan before the start of the 2024-25 season and has now played in 104 games with 47 starts, and enjoyed a career year in Ann Arbor by shooting 37.5% from long range.
Donaldson made a number of big plays during his time in the maize and blue.
He scored seven straight points with U-M down five to Penn State, which included the game-winning 3-pointer in late January. He hit a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final minute against Maryland in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, then after U-M fell behind he went coast-to-coast with less than six seconds to play for the game winning layup. The next day, in the championship against Wisconsin, he hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the final two minutes.
Donaldson wasn’t done there.
In the opening round of the NCAA tournament, after UC San Diego took a lead with less than 3 minutes to play, Donaldson hit a go-ahead 3 just 16 seconds later to propel U-M to a win. Then, two days later, with U-M up 3 against Texas A&M in the final minute of the Round of 32, he hit a circus layup to clinch the victory.
Of course, it wasn’t all good.
Donaldson made just two of nine shots with no assists and four turnovers in Michigan’s Sweet 16 loss to Auburn, 78-65, last weekend. He shot worse than 50% from the floor in 16 of his final 17 games of the year and had as many turnovers in NCAA tournament (7) as assists.
This move was also precipitated by the fact that on Monday evening, U-M landed Elliot Cadeau out of the portal from North Carolina.
Cadeau entered college as the No. 2 point guard in the country, the No. 2 player in the state of Missouri and the No. 11 prospect regardless of position in the 2023 class and just put up 9.4 points on 44.5% shooting and was one of the best passers in the ACC, averaging 6.2 assists per game.
Between that, the recent emergence of L.J. Cason, U-M’s freshman guard who became a playmaker late in the season as well the impending addition of Trey McKenney, a McDonalds All-American from Orchard Lake Saint Marys, the backcourt situation was getting crowded in Ann Arbor.
The Free Press asked Donaldson if he planned to return to Michigan for his senior season following the loss to Auburn but he opted not to respond to the question. When pressed again for clarification, Donaldson again did not respond directly to the inquiry, but instead implied he was done with the conversation and said “appreciate it.”
The 6-foot-3, 195-pound guard from Tallahassee was a four-star football recruit coming out of high school and has one year of collegiate eligibility remaining.
Donaldson is now the fourth U-M player from the 2024-25 roster to enter the portal, joining freshman point guard Justin Pippen, sophomore forward Sam Walters and graduate forward Jace Howard.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
