Report: Trey McKenney agrees to new deal, sets return to Michigan in 2026-27

After helping lead Michigan to a national championship this past season, Trey McKenney is staying in Ann Arbor. He has agreed to a deal that sets his return to the Wolverines in 2026-27, ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello reported.

McKenney is another key piece locked in for Michigan next season after the Wolverines won their second-ever national title this week. Point guard Elliot Cadeau also agreed to a new deal with the program and will come back for his senior campaign after winning Final Four Most Outstanding Player.

McKenney came off the bench for Michigan throughout his freshman year, but was still a crucial part of the attack. He averaged 9.9 points to go with 2.8 rebounds in 22.1 minutes per game after arriving as a highly rated recruit.

McKenney’s arrival marked a big recruiting win for Dusty May and the Wolverines. He was a four-star prospect and the No. 21 overall player from the 2025 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking. The Bloomfield (Mich.) St. Mary’s West product was also the top-ranked recruit in the state of Michigan.

In the national championship game, McKenney also notably hit a big-time three in the final minute to ultimately seal Michigan’s win over UConn. He had nine points and eight rebounds as the Wolverines secured their second-ever national title and their first since the 1989 team.

Trey McKenney ‘thrown into the fire’ at Michigan

Monday’s game also capped an impressive run for Trey McKenney, who had to take on a larger role after LJ Cason went down with a season-ending injury suffered against Illinois. Michigan coach Dusty May said McKenney responded well after Michigan “threw him into the fire” as he immediately became an even bigger part of Michigan’s plan.

“We handed him the ball in practice and instantly started challenging him with the terminology, with the game management, with the actions that we could help him with, with the pressure releases when he did feel some heat from smaller guards and what to call when Aday [Mara] had it going or when we needed to manage the clock,” May said ahead of the national title game. “It became a crash course, and he made several mistakes, and then the next day he didn’t make very many mistakes and then fewer and fewer and fewer.

“This game, our team are very important to him. He comes from a great family, he’s well-rounded, he’s disciplined. There hasn’t been a day this year where his temperature has changed. It’s been about the work. Whether he had 20 on the road in a Big Ten game or he had two points and shot 1 for 10 from the field he’s been the exact same throughout. That’s probably the hardest thing for freshmen to do is to go through a five-, six-month season with the level of consistency he has.”