The UMass men’s basketball team completed its roster construction for the upcoming season, bringing in three transfers and five freshmen to join the seven returning players from last year’s squad.
Jordan Clayton, Abdullah Ahmed and Junjie Wang are the three new additions from the transfer portal, with each bringing a new set of skills to Amherst.
Clayton is the lone guard of the bunch, standing at 6-foot-2, with Ahmed and Wang sizing up at 6-foot-10 and 6-foot-9, respectively. With three of the Minutemen’s most impactful graduates from last year being a guard and two big men (Marcus Banks Jr., Daniel Hankins-Sanford and Leonardo Bettiol), the new transfers are hoping to fill the open spots at a high level.
“We’re really, really excited about [all three of] those guys,” head coach Frank Martin said. “They play with tremendous physicality. And bring presence to the game of basketball, along with incredible experience.”
UMass also brought in five freshmen recruits this offseason, with Cam Hailey, Heimir Helgason, Christian Martin, Cheick Sylla and Noah Zemljic hoping to be the future of the program.
Talent and athleticism were the main traits Martin looked for throughout his scouting process this year, with the new freshmen class proving that point. As the young players make the jump to the college level, Martin is confident they’ll be ready to take on the challenge.
“They’re great dudes,” Martin said of all of his new additions. “They don’t fight coaching— They want to be coached. They want to get challenged, and I’m excited about all of that.”
The new bigs joining the roster will be expected to help fix one of UMass’ biggest weaknesses from the 2025-26 season, protecting the rim. Last year, the Minutemen struggled to block shots at the basket, finishing the year 340th out of 365 teams across the nation in blocks per game with 2.2.
Ahmed’s specialty throughout his career has been defending the paint, tallying 1.4 blocks per game last season at BYU, and 2.1 blocks the year prior for the Westchester Knicks of the G League.
Helgason and Sylla have also shown shot-blocking prowess throughout their young careers, hoping to use their 6-foot-9 frames to bring that same dominance on the defensive end to Amherst.
“The new guys all bring in a size, a physicality, a defensive mindset,” Martin said. “Shot blocking, protecting the rim, has been a problem for us. Now we’re bringing in [Ahmed]: elite shot blocker. [Helgason] can really block shots. [Sylla] is big time at the rim. We’ve got really good shot blockers.”
In addition to the eight new players coming to UMass for the upcoming season, the program retained seven members of last year’s squad. Five of the seven saw rotational playing time during the 2025-26 season, with even bigger roles potentially in store this time around.
Danny Carbuccia and Jayden Ndjigue headline the group of returners, along with Dwayne Wimbley Jr., Dimitri Clerc and Luka Damjanac.
“It’s the first time since I’ve been at UMass, having seven returning players,” Martin said. ”So there’s gonna be a form of real leadership to help the new guys comprehend the do’s and don’t’s of how we try to do things here at UMass.”
The new-look Minutemen have their schedule already made for the upcoming winter, with the information yet to be introduced to the public. One game was announced early, before the full release, with a return to the Hoophall Classic coming again next season.
UMass will face off against Wake Forest on Sunday, Dec. 6, at the MassMutual Center in Springfield as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic. This comes after a great battle against Boston College last winter, where the Minutemen won 76-74.
After a long hiatus, UMass is set to take on the Demon Deacons for the first time in 30 years and third time overall, with the most recent matchup coming back in the 1996-97 season. The Minutemen are 1-1 all-time against Wake Forest, with the only other meeting happening in the year prior.
“Once again, we are extremely excited about participating in a Hall of Fame event in Springfield, Massachusetts,” Martin said in a press release. “Competing against Wake Forest, a great member of the ACC, will be something that will empower our team to grow and give us great visibility.”
