Jon Ekey Is Transferring To Illinois

Two weeks ago Illinois State forward Jon Ekey made an unofficial visit to Champaign as he was considering a transfer to Illinois, and on Tuesday night he did just that.

According to Marcus Jackson, Ekey will transfer to Illinois.

According to a source, Illinois State transfer Jon Ekey has committed to the #Illini and with play his fifth year at Illinois in 2013-14.

— Marcus Jackson (@MarcusJ_NG) April 17, 2013

Jackson also tweeted that Ekey told him he'd had interest from Purdue, Creighton, Georgia Tech, Boston College and Nevada.

As a fifth-year senior that's already graduated from Illinois State Ekey will not be required to sit out a season and can play right away in 2013-14. He's a stretch four very much in the same vein as Tyler Griffey.

Last season Ekey averaged 6.4 points and 4.2 rebounds for Illinois State while playing 23 minutes per game. Numbers that aren't great, but in 2012-13 he averaged 9.0 points and and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 40.7% from three.

Though the truth is that he doesn't need to be a producer in Champaign. Hell, Tyler Griffey only averaged 7.2 points and 3.5 rebounds last year while shooting 34.7% from three. What he brings is depth and experience, something we need on this team next season, and at a position we could use, as the stretch four has value in John Groce's offense.

Plus he still leaves us with an open scholarship for the 2014 class.

We also still have one scholarship to play with for 2013-14, and if we end up using that on Josh Davis for next season, we'll be looking pretty good.

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