Polk, Lopez become latest Chippewas to enter transfer portal
Junior guard Oscar Lopez Jr. drives into the paint Dec. 11 in McGuirk Arena.
Tony Barbee is once again tasked with rebuilding a majority of Central Michigan's roster.
Since the conclusion of his first season as the team's head coach, the Chippewa men's basketball team has seen five players enter the transfer portal. Rising junior forward Aundre Polk and senior-to-be guard Oscar Lopez became the latest, entering the portal this week.
Polk's decision was reported Wednesday, while news of Lopez's transfer broke Thursday. The former spent two seasons as a Chippewa, while the latter was with the team for one season.
A native of Detroit, Polk enjoyed a solid start to his career in 2020-21 before missing the final 12 games of the season. Despite playing in just two conference games, he was named to the Mid-American Conference All-Freshman team.
After head coach Keno Davis was fired and Barbee took over, Polk was one of four Chippewas who elected to stay with the program. He played in 12 games as a sophomore, averaging 3.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per outing. He suffered a season-ending torn meniscus following CMU's Jan. 11 loss to Eastern Michigan.
Lopez was one of seven transfers brought in by Barbee as part of his first recruiting class. The Cypress, California native started the first six games of the season and 11 of the 12 he played in, averaging 10 points and 4.2 rebounds per game.
Lopez twice crossed the 20-point scoring threshold, doing so in losses to Youngstown State and Detroit Mercy. He played his final game as a Chippewa on Dec. 29, a 72-69 victory over Kent State in which he scored nine points.
The duo joins forward Nicolas Pavrette and guards Ryan Wade and Cameron Healy as former Chippewas in the portal.
