Three-Year Northwestern Guard Commits to UMass Out of Transfer Portal

A former Wildcat is officially moving on today, as Sam Kayser reported via X that Jordan Clayton is headed home to UMass.

The Massachusetts native spent three seasons with the Wildcats, and he will now have one remaining year of eligibility with his new program. Clayton previously entered the portal as part of a mass exodus from Northwestern that now includes nine players with Max Green entering just today.

Playing mostly the two guard spot, Clayton had an up-and-down career with Northwestern. For most of it, he struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball. He averages just under three points per game for his college career. Defensively, though, Clayton was always a solid perimeter option, and he seemed to embrace being a role player.

At the end of this year, he also started to contribute a little more on the offensive side of the ball. Clayton shot the three at a 41% clip last season which was, by far, his career high. He hit a few memorable triples down the stretch in games as well. The sample size wasn't huge, but the difference in his percentages was noticeable enough to verify a trend.

At UMass, Clayton will look to build upon that success and turn in a more productive offensive season in a lower-level conference. Getting out of the Big Ten should help, but if he had stayed he likely would have still found consistent minutes in the rotation.

The Minutemen are coming off a 17-16 year in the MAC under head coach Frank Martin. He's been leading the program since 2023, and it hasn't been all that successful. An above .500 season, though, is better than what the Wildcats turned in in 2025-26.

For Northwestern, losing Clayton in a vacuum was unfortunate. As a potential high-volume shooter next season, Clayton represents something the 'Cats desperately need. But when you zoom out and understand that almost NU's entire roster is gone, Clayton's departure feels like less of a big deal.

Collins has to rebuild his team anyway, and that might be something he went into the offseason hoping for. Northwestern wasn't good enough last year, and sometimes it makes sense for both coaches and players to move on.

In his social media posts announcing his decision, Clayton did reveal that he was able to graduate from the university in three years. Now, he'll get the opportunity to finish out his college basketball career in his home state with the possibility for plenty of playing time.