Michael Evbagharu Commits to Join Men’s Basketball Program

Canisius head men's basketball coach Jim Christian announced Michael Evbagharu will join the Golden Griffins for the 2025-26 season.

Evbagharu (pronounced ev-VAGH-uh-row) is the fifth player to join the Canisius program from the NCAA Transfer Portal since April 14. A 6-foot-4, 220-pound guard, Evbagharu comes to Canisius after spending the 2024-25 campaign at Central Arkansas. In 2023-24, he played his first collegiate season at Siena. He has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining, starting next year.

"Michael comes to us with nearly 50 Division I games under his belt and he has considerable experience at the international level, as well," Christian said. "He is a big-body guy who can put the ball on the floor and get to the basket, and he has averaged better than 5.5 rebounds per game in his first two college seasons. He is ultra-competitive and he plays with a lot of grit. We're excited to add a player with his credentials to our program."

Last season at Central Arkansas, Evbagharu played in 30 games and made 19 starts for the Bears where he averaged 7.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He posted a career-high 23 points in Central Arkansas' overtime win over North Florida Feb. 15 and he led the Bears in rebounding nine times, highlighted by his four games where he grabbed a season-high 10 boards.

In 2023-24, the Scarborough, Ontario native played in 18 games and made seven starts for the Siena Saints. In that season, he was good for 5.8 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while averaging 24.0 minutes per contest. He posted his first career double-double with 18 points and a career-high 14 rebounds against Milwaukee on Nov. 21, 2023, and he was also good for five assists and three blocked shots in that game. In eight MAAC contests in that season, Evbagharu averaged 2.3 points and 5.4 rebounds per contest.

Prior to Siena, Evbagharu helped lead Royal Crown Academic School to a 72-11 record in his two seasons with the team. There, he averaged 18.2 points, 10.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals per game in his final season, where he earned Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association Finals MVP honors. A co-MVP of the Biosteel All-Canadian Basketball Games, he also competed for Team Canada at the 2022 FIBA U18 Americas Championships. In the summer of 2023, he was good for 4.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in seven contests for Team Canada at the FIBA U19 World Cup.

Evbagharu joins with Marcus Niblack (Jacksonville), Myles Wilmoth (Siena), Kahlil Singleton (Holy Cross) and Bryan Njjonga (Central Michigan) who have all committed to the Canisius program from the NCAA Transfer Portal this offseason.

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