Michigan men's basketball landed a proven Ivy League scorer on Wednesday, Aug. 19 when former Columbia guard Kenny Noland signed with the Wolverines, giving coach Mike Boynton Jr. a veteran backup point guard one day before the team departs for exhibition games in Europe.

Noland, a 6-foot-2 guard from Apex, North Carolina, averaged a team-leading 17.1 points, 3.7 assists and 3.4 rebounds per game last season while starting all 28 of Columbia's games. He shot 37.5% from three and 92.1% from the free-throw line (70 of 76 attempts), leading all Ivy League players in free-throw percentage. He was named All-Ivy League Second Team and earned Ivy League Player of the Week three times.

The signing, first reported by On3's Pete Nakos, was made possible by a federal court ruling that granted the high school class of 2022 a fifth season of NCAA eligibility. U.S. District Judge Charlotte Sweeney of Colorado issued a class-wide preliminary injunction on July 25 barring the NCAA from enforcing its new "five-for-five" age-based eligibility rule against athletes whose four years had already expired. The NCAA adopted the rule on June 23, replacing the traditional four-seasons-over-five-years model, but excluded the class of 2022.

"We will always look for opportunities to improve where we can from a roster standpoint, whenever that's an opportunity, if there's somebody that can add value," Boynton said at a Tuesday, Aug. 18 press conference. "Obviously this is a more unique circumstance than we've ever been presented with before because of all the court cases."

Noland played all four seasons at Columbia and appeared in 111 career games with 57 starts. He posted the first double-double of his career with a 28-point, 11-rebound game against Dartmouth in January. After graduating, he signed a professional contract with the Artland Dragons of Germany's Bundesliga ProA on July 6, according to Columbia's athletics department. A special transfer portal window for newly eligible class-of-2022 athletes ran Aug. 3 through Aug. 10.

That timeline raises a question. Judge Sweeney's Aug. 2 clarification order stated that class members who had already signed a professional contract are not eligible to return to NCAA competition, according to a legal analysis from BIPC. How Noland's situation was resolved to allow his return has not been publicly explained.

Michigan assistant coach Mike Martin, hired from Brown this offseason, coached against Noland all four years in the Ivy League and likely played a role in recruiting him to Ann Arbor, according to Sports Illustrated. Noland is expected to back up senior point guard Elliot Cadeau, filling the spot vacated when L.J. Cason transferred to Miami after tearing his ACL in February.

Noland becomes Michigan's 14th scholarship player. One roster spot remains open, and Boynton said former Wolverines guard Roddy Gayle Jr. could also benefit from the ruling. The NCAA has appealed the injunction to the Tenth Circuit, but no stay is in place.

Michigan is scheduled to depart Thursday, Aug. 20 for a 10-day trip to Lithuania and Croatia, where the team will play three exhibition games.