Michigan basketball forward Isaiah Barnes enters transfer portal
On the first day of the Michigan basketball offseason, there's already movement.
Redshirt freshman forward Isaiah Barnes has entered the transfer portal, a program spokesman confirmed to the Free Press.
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The 6-foot-7, 200-pound wing appeared in just 15 games in 2022-23 and averaged just 1.1 points and 1.1 rebounds in 6.1 minutes. Barnes didn't appear in any of the final 13 games of the season, though he dressed in every contest until Michigan's season ending 66-65 loss to Vanderbilt in the second round of the NIT, when he was ruled out with a leg injury.
Barnes was a four-star prospect out of Simeon High School in Juwan Howard's hometown of Chicago when he was recruited in 2021 as part of a decorated freshman class in the front court that included Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate.
With available minutes at the position tight, he appeared in just two games before he was retroactively awarded a redshirt season. The hope was Barnes would take a step forward in 2022-23 as U-M worked in nine new faces including five freshmen.
It never materialized.
He played more than 10 minutes just twice and his best game of the season came when he went 2-for-2 on 3s for a career-high six points against Kentucky. He also had three points and a career-high four points against Maryland. He scored just two points after Jan. 1 and finished the year with 16 points and 17 rebounds on 5-for-16 (31.3%) shooting.
It's likely the first of a number of moves for the Wolverines, who missed the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2015.
Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball's Isaiah Barnes enters NCAA transfer portal
