Brandon McCoy Jr., a five-star recruit in the 2026 class, was expected to be a key player for the reigning national champions. Mark J. Rebilas / Imagn Images
Five-star guard Brandon McCoy Jr., the top signee in Michigan’s 2026 men’s basketball recruiting class, will miss the upcoming season after injuring his right ACL during the Wolverines’ recent trip to Europe, coach Mike Boynton Jr. announced Tuesday.
Losing McCoy, a projected starter, is a significant blow for the reigning national champions and for Boynton, who was named head coach on a two-year deal this summer after Dusty May’s departure for the Dallas Mavericks. McCoy slipped on the court early in Michigan’s game against KK Mega Superbet in Montenegro and could not put weight on his right leg as he was helped from the floor.
McCoy, the No. 15 prospect in the Rivals industry rankings, is a 6-foot-5 two-way threat who was projected to fill a major role alongside returning starters Elliot Cadeau and Trey McKenney. He averaged 14.5 points and five rebounds in the first two games of Michigan’s European tour before his injury.
McCoy was projected by many evaluators as a potential lottery pick in the 2027 NBA Draft after a strong performance at the April Hoop Summit. His injury calls into question whether he would still enter the 2027 draft as a one-and-done with no NCAA track record, or instead choose to recover and enter in 2028. Either way, the injury further weakens what was already projected as an underwhelming 2027 draft class.
McCoy was expected to help Michigan fill a void left by the departures of Yaxel Lendeborg, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr., NBA lottery picks who started for last season’s national championship team. The Wolverines also signed transfers Moustapha Thiam from Cincinnati and JP Estrella from Tennessee, plus a six-man freshman class.
Despite the departures, Michigan has been projected as a preseason top-10 team under Boynton, who spent seven seasons as the head coach at Oklahoma State and was May’s top assistant. Losing McCoy means Michigan has even more riding on the status of Roddy Gayle Jr., who sued the NCAA in his home state of New York this week, seeking an injunction that would allow him to play a fifth year of college basketball.
Gayle, a 6-5 guard, went undrafted after averaging 7.3 points and 3.3 rebounds last season for the Wolverines. He played for the Detroit Pistons in the NBA Summer League and has since enrolled at Michigan for the fall semester.
Sep 1, 2026
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