The NCAA college basketball transfer portal is officially closed. Ole Miss Men’s Basketball head coach Chris Beard and Ole Miss Women’s Basketball head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin can now focus on welcoming the new additions and continuing to add players rather than retaining players from the 2025-26 rosters.
Four men and nine women have committed to play in Oxford next season. Though the portal is officially closed, players who have already entered the portal have no specific deadline to commit to their next school.
Men
Beard and his staff have landed forwards Roman Siulepa, ND Okafor and Christian Brown and guard Adam “Budd” Clark.
Siulepa, who was Beard’s first addition, is a young player with just one season of experience at Pittsburgh. The 6-foot-6-inch, 224-pound former rugby player is physical; he averaged 10 points per game for the Panthers and led the ACC in offensive rebounds during the regular season.
This addresses a need for the Rebels, who were 15th in the SEC in rebounds per game last season with 34.3.
Okafor, a redshirt senior, comes to Oxford with plenty of experience. He spent two seasons at California before spending another pair of seasons at Washington State. Similar to Siulepa, the 6-foot-10-inch, 250-pound Okafor uses his size to finish physically around the basket.
Okafor averaged 11 points and 5.7 rebounds per game in 2025 with the Cougars. He should pair well with returning guards Patton Pinkins and Ilias Kamardine.
Clark arrives from Seton Hall in Philadelphia, where he averaged 12.7 points per game and earned a spot on the Big East All-Defensive Team. He was also an All Big-East Second Team selection.
He cemented himself as a solid two-way player at Seton Hall last season. During his freshman season at Merrimack College, he ranked fifth in the nation in total steals.
In the transfer portal this year, Beard seems to be building a group of proven players who, on average, had more points per game than last year’s portal additions. High Point transfer guard Kezza Giffa was the transfer during last offseason he averaged double figures in his most recent season before joining the Rebels.
In this portal window, Siulepa, Okafor and Clark all averaged at least 10 points per game last season.
James Madison University (JMU) transfer Christian Brown is the only exception to this top-notch scoring. He averaged three points with the Dukes in 33 games last season as a freshman. However, Brown’s defense could be his biggest asset for Ole Miss; the 6-foot-8-inch forward averaged 1.5 blocks in 13.3 minutes per game.
Women
Transfer commitments poured in as soon as the portal opened. McPhee-McCuin has already landed nine new players: center Emily Howard, forwards Rachael Okokoh, Jade Tillman and Doneelah Washington and guards Talaysia Cooper, Jaida Civil, Jada Richard, KN’isha Godfrey, and Maya Anderson.
Cooper and Civil were teammates at Tennessee. Cooper is in her last season. According to ESPN’s Charlie Creme, she is the No. 7 transfer in the class. She averaged 16 points per game and shot 42.9% from the field last season for the Lady Volunteers.
Cooper is a candidate to lead the Rebels in scoring in 2026-27, especially after the loss of guard Sira Thienou to the portal hours before the window closed.
Civil has three years of eligibility remaining and could develop into a fantastic player under McPhee-McCuin if she sticks around in Oxford.
Richard, who spent two seasons at LSU, is a big playmaker who was highly sought after in the portal. She posted double figures in 17 games last season. Additionally, she shot 40.8% from 3-point range, which was higher than any Lady Rebel last season.
Godfrey, a Florida transfer, is the last of the in-conference transfers so far. Although she saw limited playing time with just 13.3 minutes per game last season, she is already familiar with the fast pace and physicality of the SEC and should be a good depth option.
The Rebels also added five players from outside the SEC. Anderson comes from San José State, where she averaged 13.9 points per game for the Spartans. However, her team only won four total games all season and finished last in the Mountain West Conference at 2-18.
Washington comes to Ole Miss from Illinois State. She showed promise in her two seasons with the Redbirds and nearly averaged a double-double last season with 16.7 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
UMBC transfer Jade Tillman signed with the Rebels on Thursday, April 23. She averaged 15.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game last year.
“Jade has great size, skill and toughness,” McPhee-McCuin said in a press release last Thursday. “Her former coaches have done a great job preparing her to play at our level and her physicality and two-way ability fits the mold of Ole Miss players who have had tremendous impact in the SEC and beyond.”
Tillman played at East Carolina for two seasons prior to transferring to UMBC.
Okokoh is a transfer from Penn State, and Howard is from Boise State. Last season, both averaged under three points per game, but could find more success with McPhee-McCuin.
