Michigan's L.J. Cason to transfer back home to Miami basketball

A Michigan basketball point guard has transferred to Miami for the second offseason in a row.

L.J. Cason, a rising junior who was in the process of experiencing a breakout season when his campaign was cut short with a torn ACL in February, is heading back to his home state of Florida to join the Miami Hurricanes, according to reports.

Cason, a Lakeland native (Victory Christian Academy), was originally committed to coach Dusty May to play at Florida Atlantic before May took the U-M job in April 2024 and was able to get Cason to flip his commitment to the Wolverines.

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When May left Michigan in June to take over the Dallas Mavericks, Cason had a decision to make, and ultimately was the only player out of U-M’s 14 athletes on scholarship to enter the portal.

“I’ll be honest, even for L.J., as disappointed as I am that I won’t be able to coach him, I wanted him to be able to make that choice for himself,” Michigan coach Mike Boynton Jr. said on a recent episode of the “Defend The Block” podcast. “That kid’s given this program a lot. He’s a champion. He’ll forever be a champion. He’ll forever be a champion at the University of Michigan. We wish him great success moving forward.

“We hope he gets as healthy as possible and continues to be the type of player that we all know he can be. We’ll miss him, for sure, but he had an opportunity to make the choice that he thought was best for him, and we wish him well moving forward.”

Cason averaged 8.4 points and 2.4 assists a game last season, but took his game to another level for the Wolverines in February, scoring in double figures in four of five games prior to tearing his ACL while averaging 11.8 points per game. In U-M’s road win over the Illini, when he suffered the injury, he scored nine points in 13 minutes.

Theres an expectation he can play in the back half of the 2026-27 season and with the NCAA adopting a five-in-five rule to eliminate medical redshirts, there’s no reason to hold him back once his health allows him to play.

His exact role in Ann Arbor likely would’ve been uncertain coming off an injury and in a back court that has senior Elliot Cadeau and a pair of projected first-round talents in Trey McKenney and Brandon McCoy Jr.

Michigan now has 13 scholarship players and will be looking to add another backcourt player.

Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan’s L.J. Cason to transfer back home to Miami basketball