The Texas Tech Red Raiders men’s basketball team landed their third transfer commitment of the 2024-25 cycle on Tuesday. Former Minnesota Golden Gophers point guard Elijah Hawkins committed to play for Grant McCasland in the upcoming season.
Hawkins is coming off his best season from an assist standpoint in his third season of collegiate basketball. He spent the first two seasons of his basketball career with Howard before transferring to Minnesota ahead of the 2023-24 season. Hawkins averaged 9.5 points, 7.5 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. He made 33 starts for a Golden Gophers team that finished 19-15 and 9-11 in conference play.
His transfer will help fill the void left by Pop Isaacs, who recently announced that he would be heading to Creighton. Isaacs was a better scored but we give the edge to Hawkins in this swap for his ability to facilitate the offense.
NEWS: Elijah Hawkins will transfer to Texas Tech
He averaged 9.3 points, 3.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game per game @TheAthleticCBB pic.twitter.com/0DOwRKpqvE
— Tobias Bass (@tobias_bass) April 30, 2024
Hawkins joins a transfer class that includes former Drake shooting guard Kevin Overton and Pitt forward Fede Federiko. While Issacs was a premier scorer for the Red Raiders this past season, don’t sleep on Hawkins who has shown that he has range.
New Texas Tech point guard Elijah Hawkins (@eslimee_) not only was tied for 2nd in the country in assists/game, he also has range 🎯 pic.twitter.com/mbRKUKHQNO
— Ben Golan (@BenjaminGolan) April 30, 2024
Hawkins converted 36.4% of his shot attempts from beyond the arc last season and shot 39.3% from the floor overall. McCasland still has plenty of work to do in building his roster for next season.