Nearly three weeks after the NCAA transfer portal for men’s basketball reopened for business, Duquesne has added a familiar face to college hoops fans in Western Pennsylvania.
Former Pitt big man John Hugley IV, who’ll be entering his sixth college season, will join the Dukes’ roster for the 2025-26 season, a source on Friday confirmed to TribLive.
Nashville-based On3 network first reported Hugley’s decision.
NEWS: Xavier transfer big man John Hugley has committed to Duquesne, he told @On3sports.
The 6-10 senior scored a season-high 13 points on Creighton earlier this season. The former 4⭐️ recruit spent three years at Pitt and last season at Oklahoma. https://t.co/nGgWiqjBvQpic.twitter.com/gzB0oGLU5u
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) April 11, 2025
After three turbulent years at Pitt, the 6-foot-11, 270-pound Hugley, a Cleveland native, played for one season each at Oklahoma and Xavier, where in 2024-25 he averaged 2.9 points and 2.0 rebounds during limited playing time in 34 appearances.
He was expected to join a Duquesne lineup that also includes holdover frontcourt players David Dixon and Chabi Barre (both 6-9) and Jakub Necas and Eli Wilborn (both 6-8).
Furman transfer Alex Williams, a 6-5, 235-pound senior, is also a possible option after sitting out last season recovering from foot surgery.
Duquesne coach Dru Joyce III so far has lost three regulars to the portal — point guards Tre Dinkins III (the team’s leading scorer) and Kareem Rozier (the leading assists man), and 6-8 guard/forward Matus Hronsky.
A consensus four-star and top 100 recruit in 2020 from Lyndhurst (Ohio) Brush High School, Hugley was an all-ACC honorable mention as a sophomore in 2021-22 for Pitt, averaging 14.8 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.
But his college career has been marred by injuries and personal problems.
During his freshman season at Pitt, Hugley was suspended from the team in January 2021 following several felony charges that included criminal conspiracy and receiving stolen property stemming from an alleged car theft in Oakland.
Prosecutors eventually withdrew the charges, and the case against Hugley was expunged from his record.
A preseason knee injury limited his playing time in 2022-23, and Hugley was replaced in the Panthers’ lineup by then-sophomore Federiko Federiko.
Then, in January 2023, Hugley announced he would sit out the remainder of the season to deal “with mental health challenges,” while recovering from the injury.
He entered the transfer portal that year and wound up at Oklahoma, where in 24 games he averaged 8.4 points and 3.8 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game.
Hugley shot a career-high 54.8% for the Sooners, but his season was cut short in February 2024 when he required surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
Hugley spent last season playing at Xavier for former Pitt star Sean Miller, who since has taken the job at Texas after three seasons in his second stint as coach of the Musketeers.