Illinois Basketball: Omar Payne ends Illini career and enters transfer portal

The transfer portal strikes again as the Illinois basketball team has lost another member of the family.

On Saturday afternoon, Illini big man Omar Payne announced that he was entering the transfer portal and is going to explore his options this offseason. This is the second player Illinois has lost since the second round NCAA tournament exit. The other player is, obviously, Andre Curbelo who departed last week.

Payne was a highly touted recruit coming out of Montverde Academy in 2019. He was a four-star recruit and ranked inside the top 50 nationally. Out of high school, Payne would commit to Florida where he spent two years playing. His best season consisted of him averaging 3.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game.

After two years with the Gators, Payne entered the transfer portal and committed to Illinois. His playing time would actually shrink by about half with the Orange and Blue. He would end up getting just 7.4 minutes per game and put up 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds in each contest.

Omar Payne leaving the Illinois basketball program hurts depth at the No. 5 spot.

Honestly, Payne transferring doesn’t come as a huge surprise. He was thrown into the mix early in the season, but I believe Brad Underwood lost trust in the big man somewhere in the middle of the year. Since January 1, Payne only had double-digit minutes in five games.

Entering the upcoming season, I don’t believe Payne would have earned the starting job. I thought the big man situation was a bit concerning with him, but now Illinois is going to be searching for a starter and depth.

I have said it once and I will say it again; I believe Kofi Cockburn is heading to the NBA. I would be surprised if he stays. But I also said that last year and look what happened.

Payne is gone and Kofi is possibly gone. That means incoming transfer Dain Dainja could get the starting job from day one. He was a four-star recruit in 2020 and didn’t see a ton of time with Baylor. So, Dainja transferred into the Illinois program this past season and will be ready to play on day one.

I don’t think the departure of Payne does much for the urgency of finding a big man. I think this urgency was already there and is just solidified now that we have fewer bodies in the paint.

A name in the transfer portal to keep an eye on would be Fardaws Aimaq. He is a Utah Valley transfer who can stretch the floor, rebound well, and he has great length. If he doesn’t pick Illinois, then I think we could either start Dainja or go with Coleman Hawkins at the No. 5 and play a more athletic game.

The coming months will be interesting to watch. Illinois has a lot of irons in the fire, and I think we could put together one of the best teams in the nation.