REPORT: Jermaine Hamlin enters transfer portal

Brad Underwood has a scholarship to work with again after rising junior Jermaine Hamlin reportedly entered the transfer portal Tuesday.

In two years at Illinois, Hamlin didn’t play all too much behind fellow big men Kofi Cockburn and Giorgi Bezhanishvili.

As a freshman, Hamlin saw the court 16 times, compared to only eight this year. In 2019-20, he played in eight Big Ten games, but the majority of his minutes came in the non-conference schedule. In his best game, he played 12 minutes against D-II Lindenwood going 3-for-3 with 8 points.

Fast forward to the 2020-21 season, Hamlin’s best game was a 2-for-3 shooting performance against Minnesota in which he got two dunks. His last time on the court was 2 minutes in Illinois’ blowout win at Michigan.

And with Omar Payne on the scene and a (hopefully) more refined Coleman Hawkins, it’s not clear how he fit into the Illini’s plans next season.

Here’s the current roster chart, with Kofi (Draft), Adam Miller (transfer portal) and Da’Monte Williams (COVID eligibility) still potentially returning.