Tag: Elijah Hawkins

Kentucky basketball will host transfer guard Elijah Hawkins for a visit

Kentucky basketball will take a visit from point guard Elijah Hawkins.

New coach Mark Pope has been hard at work in the transfer portal, and has been looking to add a starting caliber point guard in particular. Deivon Smith has been on their radar, and now they will be hosting Minnesota transfer Elijah Hawkins for a visit as well.

Hawkins was not a heavily recruited player out of high school and wound up at Howard University. After two solid years there, he transferred to Minnesota.

Last year, with the Golden Gophers, Hawkins scored 9.5 points per game and shot 36% from three-point range. As a passer, he was excellent, putting up 7.5 assists per game, which was third highest in the nation.

In continuing with a theme so far for Kentucky, he is also a strong defender. He averaged 1.6 steals per game last season.

Pope is clearly looking for fits for his offense, but also for good defenders. Adding Hawkins would give them someone who excels in both areas.

Minnesota basketball loses its top guard to the transfer portal

Wisconsin and Minnesota can agree on one thing:

Wisconsin basketball isn’t the only program getting hit hard by the transfer portal. The Minnesota Golden Gophers just saw their floor general and team leader Elijah Hawkins enter, in a move that Minnesota writer Tony Liebert calls ‘heavily driven by NIL.’

Hawkins averaged 33.3 minutes, 9.5 points and 7.5 assists for the 2023-24 Gophers. He is the program’s all-time record holder in assists in a game (17), assists in a single season (247) and assists in a postseason game (15). His transfer is tough news in what has otherwise been a positive offseason for head coach Ben Johnson and the Gophers.

Related: An updated list of Wisconsin basketball’s transfer portal targets

Wisconsin fans can draw a bit of a parallel. Three-year starting point guard Chucky Hepburn entered the portal last week after saying he’d return, and after recruiting top transfer wing Frankie Fidler to join the program.

Hawkins has apparently done the same. Just two weeks ago he said “I’m definitely coming back next year.” Now, like Hepburn, he’s in the portal weighing his options.

The current state of college athletics is challenging to grapple with. The worst part are examples like this one: a multi-year starter and program leader reportedly leaving for a big paycheck.

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Rutgers men’s basketball winning streak comes to an end at Minnesota

Rutgers basketball’s four-game losing streak is snapped.

On Sunday night, Rutgers men’s basketball dropped their first game of the month to Minnesota 81-70. The Scarlet Knights came into this Big Ten game having won four straight games.

After a solid first half that ended deadlocked at 37-37, Rutgers struggled in the second half to get anything going offensively. With the loss, Rutgers is now 14-11 (6-8 Big Ten).

Minnesota was dominant  as they outscored Rutgers 44-31 in the second half and were led by Pharrell Payne. The Cottage Grove, Minnesota, native scored a team-high 21 points and hauled in 11 rebounds. He got some help from Elijah Hawkins, who scored 16 points.

 

While Sunday night did not go as planned for Rutgers, there were a few bright spots, such as Clifford Omoruyi. The talented center scored 19 points and added eight rebounds to his resume. Derek Simpson also had a big game, scoring 19 points.

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Minnesota went to the free-throw line 34 times.

In this matchup, Rutgers was unable to get many stops close to the basket. They were outscored in the paint 38-30. Minnesota also fared much better beyond the arc, making eight three-pointers. Rutgers only made four shot and 21.1 percent from three-point range.

Following a disappointing result, Rutgers will turn their attention to Purdue. They are set to go on the road to take on the second-best team in the country on February 22. So far this season, they are 3-6 away from Jersey Mike’s Arena.