BOOOOOOM! UCLA C Aday Mara has committed to the Michigan Wolverines out of the transfer portal! The 7-foot-3 big man will help fill the Vlad Goldin-sized void at the 5 next season for Dusty May and company. MORE:
Dusty May and the Michigan Wolverines are absolutely cooking in the transfer portal. They have already landed North Carolina point guard Elliot Cadeau , Illinois big man Morez Johnson and UAB forward — and the No. 1 overall player in the portal — Yaxel Lendeborg .
On Wednesday afternoon, Michigan added yet another highly regarded player to its 2025-26 team: UCLA center Aday Mara.
NEWS: UCLA transfer Aday Mara is transferring to Michigan @247SportsPortal is told.
The 7-3 big man averaged 6.4 points, 4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks this season.https://t.co/O0To6pBels pic.twitter.com/Bo9NE6agkZ
— Dushawn London (@DushawnLondon1) April 11, 2025
The 7-foot-3, 240-pound native of Zaragoza, Spain was a five-star high school recruit in the 2023 class. He played in a reserve role as a freshman, but really emerged as a sophomore this past season by averaging 6.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game in 33 games played. He shot 59 percent from the field and 57.7 percent from the free throw line. He has not attempted a three-pointer as a collegiate player.
Mara had a pair of double-doubles this past season — 12 points and 11 rebounds against USC, 11 points and 10 rebounds against Northwestern — but his best scoring performance was a 22-point outing against Wisconsin in January. After that game, Mara’s playing time increased and he averaged 16.8 minutes per game from there on.
Prior to his time in Los Angeles, Mara represented his home country in the FIBA U17 and U18 European Championships in 2022 and 2023, respectively. During the U18 European Championships, he averaged 14.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 blocks.
With Vlad Goldin out of college eligibility, Mara and Johnson instantly slot in as Michigan’s go-to big men for the 2025-26 season. May has made quick of work replacing his two big men from this past season — assuming Danny Wolf declares for the 2025 NBA Draft — so props to May and the program for getting all their ducks in a row so quickly for next year.
Stay up to date with all the latest news in our transfer portal tracker .