Tommy Lloyd and the Arizona Wildcats lost a young developmental piece to the transfer portal on Monday afternoon, with freshman center Emmanuel Stephen electing to leave the program.
Stephen, a 7-foot center from Lagos, Nigeria, committed to Arizona in the Class of 2024 and appeared in eight games during his freshman season.
In his first season of college basketball, Stephen averaged 1.3 points and 1.3 rebounds per game on 100% shooting from the field. His biggest game of the season came in a non-conference matchup with Central Michigan, where he recorded six points and six boards in nine minutes played.
Coming out of Dream City Christian in the Class of 2024, Stephen was listed as a four-star prospect by the 247Sports index and the nation’s 91st-ranked player. He also checked in as the 16th-ranked player at his position and the sixth-ranked player in the state of Arizona.
The transfer portal officially opened on Monday, March 24, 2025. According to NCAA data, 1,296 FBS basketball players entered the transfer portal in the 2023-24 school year, with 864 (66.7%) undergraduates and 432 (33.3%) graduate transfers. Of the entrants, 70% reported that they enrolled in another school, 6% withdrew their names from the portal, and 23% are still active, transferred to a non-NCAA school, or left their sport.
The Heartland College Sports Twitter account is an excellent resource for keeping up with the latest Big 12 news and announcements. Make sure you check out our HCS member forum to connect with other Big 12 sports fans.
