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UNC Loses Former Niko Medved Star to Transfer Portal
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- UNC Loses Former Niko Medved Star to Transfer Portal
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The Minnesota Gophers men's basketball team saw its 2025-26 season officially end last week, when Niko Medved & Co were blown out of the Las Vegas desert by the Baylor Bears in the first round of the second-annual College Basketball Crown Tournament.
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So now, it's officially the offseason for Medved's program, which now enters its second year. The only major departure so far was assistant coach, Chad Warner .
However, most of Minnesota's best eligible players have signed to NIL deals for the 2026-27 season, including Isaac Asuma, Bobby Durkin , Jaylen Crocker-Johnson and Grayson Grove .
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And that brings us to the college basketball transfer portal, which opened at midnight ET. Of course, there will be plenty of portal talent with ties to Medved and/or Minnesota, and even more who could be a potential fit in Dinkytown
Fresh transfer portal meat for Niko Medved, Minnesota Gophers
However, one of the more intriguing players to announce his transfer intentions early, at least from a Golden Gopher basketball standpoint, is North Carolina guard Kyan Evans, who entered the portal on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
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Evans played one season and started 17 games for the Tar Heels last season, following a breakout sophomore year at Colorado State, where he was the Rams' main ball-handler under now-Gopher head coach Niko Medved, who Kyan committed to out of high school (Kansas City, MO) .
NEWS: North Carolina guard Kyan Evans has entered the transfer portal, sources told ESPN. Started 17 games for the Tar Heels this past season after transferring in from Colorado State last spring.
— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) April 7, 2026
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — With the transfer portal now open and North Carolina' recently hiring's hire of Michael Malone soon to be official, Kyan Evans has chosen to look elsewhere. The Kansas City, Mo. native is officially in the portal, sources confirmed to On3 on Tuesday.
What would Kyan Evans bring to Medved's Gophers?
As a sophomore at Colorado State in 2024-25 , Kyan Evans started all 36 games for a Rams team that nearly made the Sweet 16, averaging 10.6 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists on 28.2 minutes per game.
Right after their NCAA Tournament appearance (during which Evans scored 23 points and collected 5 assists in a first round win over Memphis), Niko Medved was awarded his dream head coaching job at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota.
Colorado State Kyan Evans steps up big with 23 pts giving the rams their 11th straight win 🔥 pic.twitter.com/aL0i7NC4tZ
— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) March 21, 2025
Kyan Evans with a nice feed to Henri Veesaar for 2️⃣
(via @espn )
pic.twitter.com/pYHCXi2Rf2— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) December 7, 2025
Related: Minnesota Floated as Landing Spot for Women's CBB Superstar
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Shortly after, Kyan Evans hit the portal and ultimately landed in Chapel Hill, where his minutes and production fell off significantly (17.7 MPG, 4.0 PPG, 2.5 APG, 1.2 RPG), despite starting over half of UNC's games.
Could Evans now look to reunite in Dinkytown with the coach he found so much success under, just one year ago. It's too early to tell, but it's worth noting that Kyan nearly followed Medved to Minnesota last offseason , before he eventually became a Tar Heel.
Thus, you'd have to imagine the Golden Gopher basketball program will be one of the first on his radar, now that he's entering the transfer portal again.
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