That sorely needed rebounding help officially is on the way to Boulder.
On Thursday, the Colorado men’s basketball team and head coach Tad Boyle announced the signing of Justin Neely, a former forward at UNC Greensboro who .
Neely led the Southern Conference in rebounding, averaging 11.4 in 34 games — all starts — for UNC Greensboro. Neely ranked second in the nation in rebounding, trailing only Washington’s Hannes Steinbach.
At 6-foot-6, Neely will be challenged to repeat that rebounding prowess in the more physical Big 12, but Neely’s addition brings a player who has displayed a nose for the ball throughout his career, a trait the rebounding-challenged Buffs of 2025-26 lacked.
“One of our biggest needs coming into this year is to become a better rebounding team, and this kid fits the bill,” Boyle said in a news release. “He can get balls in his area, and out of his area, offensive rebound and defensive rebound. Rebounding is one thing that translates from level to level. It translates from high school to college, from college to the professional ranks. If you can rebound, you can rebound.
“You look at the number of (foul) shots he took this year, for a guy his size. He scored the ball at a really good clip and rebounded at an exceptional clip. The combination of those two things with the fact that he has experience is something that we really needed because, especially on the front line and even on the perimeter to some degree, itap hard to compete in the Big 12 with just freshmen.”
Neely averaged a team-best 17.9 points at UNC Greensboro, ranking fifth in the Southern Conference. He posted a .542 mark from the field with a .784 free throw percentage while averaging 7.8 free throw attempts per game.
A native of Miami Beach, Florida, Neely began his career at Albany, winning the America East Rookie of the Year award in 2021-22. A knee injury limited Neely to just eight games over the next two seasons, but he returned in 2024-25 to win the America East Sixth Man of the Year honor after averaging 7.1 rebounds per game.
The Buffs ranked 14th in Big 12 games this past season with an average rebounding margin of minus-3.7. That number doesn’t include the 44-34 rebounding advantage posted by Oklahoma State, which finished only decimals ahead of the Buffs at 13th in average rebounding margin in Big 12 games, during . The Buffs lost their top five rebounders, four of them to the transfer portal in Bangot Dak (Vanderbilt), Sebastian Rancik (Florida State), Alon Michaeli (St. Louis) and Isaiah Johnson (Texas).
Neely is expected to be a key figure in a revamped frontcourt also set to include 6-foot-10 Noah Feddersen, a transfer from North Dakota State, as well as Charlotte transfer David Gomez and Australian freshman Goc Malual.
With Neely signing, all of the Buffs’ current total of 10 scholarship have signed agreements with CU — Neely, Fedderson, Gomez, Malual, Barrington Hargress, Jalin Holland, Ian Inman, Josiah Sanders, Alex Dickeson and Rider Portela. After carrying 14 scholarship players this past season, Boyle has said he expect to have 12 or 13 scholarship players next season, with the remainder of the 15-player roster to be filled by walk-ons.
