Report: Illinois mover Jacob Grandison considers UCSD men’s basketball

With a veteran winger out the door, it appears Bruins are in the market for a replacement.

The winger said UCSD men’s basketball is one of the potential landing points for Illinois transfer guard Jacob Grandison Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports on Friday. Grandison also teaches USC, BYU, DePaul, Arizona, Iowa State, Michigan, Kentucky, Oregon, and Duke. Grandison is originally from Auckland, but went to high school 3,000 miles away in Phillips Exeter (NH).

Grandison is a transfer graduate going into its sixth year at college level, beginning his career at Holy Cross. After two years averaging 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game in Worcester, Massachusetts, Grandison moved to Champaign, Illinois, and re-enrolled in kindergarten in his freshman year with Fighting Illini.

Settling as a part-time rookie in Illinois in 2020-2021, Grandison averaged 4.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 15.3 minutes per game for the team that won the Big Ten and ranked #1 in the NCAA Championship. Grandison rose even more during last season’s rotation, averaging 9.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 25.0 minutes per game as Fighting Illini won the Big Ten regular season title.

Perhaps Grandison’s hallmark of the past few years has been his ocean shooting, having made 41.1% of his three throws since joining Illinois while taking 4.5 shots per game from outside the arc last season.

Grandison had previously announced the 2022 NBA draft, but withdrew his name on May 29 and entered the NCAA transfer gate two days later.

Similarly, the Bruins asked a player to take their pro-to-wire decision earlier in the week, but instead of losing it in front of the gate, they lost their decision in the draft set. Goalkeeper Jules Bernard He reaffirmed his commitment to becoming a professional This summer in an Instagram post on Wednesday night, leaving UCLA without a seasoned veteran debutante expected next season.

Bernard would have played his fifth season at Westwood had he returned.

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Like Bernard, Grandison comes in at 6-foot-6, 205 pounds. Bernard may have played more games with 130, but Grandisson wasn’t far behind in 124 games.

Coach Mick Cronin and his crew She was also in contact with Kentucky’s transfer wing Keon BrooksAccording to a report from Rothstein in May. Bruins have three areas open for scholarship with Bernard out of the picture, and they seem to be prioritizing long wings to fill in those holes.

Bernard, Johnny Guzhang and Peyton Watson made a lot of that length last season, but all three are heading into the NBA draft. Jake Keeman also moved to Wyoming, so the Bruins also lost between him and Bernard and Guzhang three of the top three-point shooters.

Grandison will achieve the same length and 3-point attempts as Bernard, and at a higher efficiency than Bruin’s previous 33.7% clip from last season’s deep. Grandison earned 17.5 PER in his two years in Illinois, which is broadly in line with Bernard’s number of 17.8 in the same period.