Indiana women’s basketball freshman guard Nevaeh Caffey plans to enter the transfer portal, according to an X post from On3’s Talia Goodman on Monday. Caffey marks the sixth Hoosier who intends to depart the program via the transfer portal.
In her first season of collegiate basketball, Caffey established herself as a starter in the Hoosiers’ lineup. She was given the starting nod before Indiana’s season-opening win over Lipscomb University on Nov. 4 and held that position throughout all the Hoosiers’ 32 games this season.
The 5-foot-10 Caffey averaged 8.5 points and 3.5 rebounds on 42.1% shooting from the field during the 2025-26 season. After a slow offensive start to the season, Caffey began to find her form, scoring double figures in eight of the Hoosiers’ final nine games.
However, Caffey's strength lies in her defensive abilities.
“What we ask her to do every night, which is guard the best player on the other team and then run our team, it was a lot for a freshman,” Moren said after the Hoosiers beat Wisconsin on Feb. 4.
One of the Warrenton, Missouri, natives’ best defensive performances was in the Hoosiers’ regular season finale against Penn State, when Caffey helped Indiana hold sophomore guard Kiyomi McMiller to just four points off 1-for-12 shooting from the field. McMiller averaged 21.6 points this season and scored 30 or more points in each of the six games prior to the meeting between the Hoosiers and the Lady Lions.
In high school, Caffey and her teammates at Incarnate Word Academy won four straight Missouri Class 6A State Championships. She was ranked as the No. 65 overall recruit out of high school by ESPN.
Caffey is the sixth Hoosier who plans to enter the portal when it officially opens April 6. She joins junior forwards Edessa Noyan and Jade Ondineme, sophomore forward Faith Wiseman and sophomore guards Phoenix Stotijn and Chloe Spreen. Next season, Indiana is currently set to have just three returning players who saw time on the court this year — redshirt sophomore guard Lenée Beaumont, sophomore forward Zania Socka-Nguemen and freshman forward Maya Makalusky.
The Hoosiers are slated to bring in the eighth best recruiting class, according to ESPN. The class includes No. 28 wing Addison Nyemchek, No. 32 guard Gigi Battle, No. 64 guard Ashlinn James and four-star center Zoe Jackson.
Follow reporters Savannah Slone (@savrivers06 and srslone@iu.edu) and Max Schneider (maxschn@iu.edu) and columnist Sean McAvoy (@sean_mc07 and semcavoy@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana women’s basketball offseason.
