Illinois Basketball: Kerr Kriisa should be top transfer portal priority for Illini

Illinois basketball has been looking for a solid point guard for the past couple of years.

The Illini had so much potential with Andre Curbelo, but he couldn’t shoot the ball and would eventually transfer to St. John’s. Since his departure, it has been a point guard by committee for the Orange and Blue.

Landing a point guard this offseason would help solve a lot of problems, especially with Illinois getting stagnant on the offensive end of the court. A solution to the lack of a point guard is Kerr Kriisa.

Kriisa is a 6-foot-3, 190-pound point guard who is transferring from Arizona. This past season, he averaged 9.9 points, 5.1 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per contest. He also shot 36.6% from the three-point arc, which would have been No. 2 on the Illini roster behind Luke Goode.

Illinois basketball needs to put a lot of resources into landing Kerr Kriisa in the transfer portal

The numbers that Kriisa put up this past season are impressive. Adding those numbers to the Illinois basketball program would instantly be an upgrade to what we have right now. Coleman Hawkins led the Illini with 3.0 assists per game in 2022-23.

But I think Kriisa brings more than just solid numbers to the table. He has helped lead Arizona to some

pretty solid campaigns

. Kriisa has been the mainstay in back-to-back Pac-12 tournament tiles. Arizona won the Pac-12 regular season two years ago as well. Kriisa also helped lead the Wildcats to the Sweet 16 two years ago.

So, the numbers and postseason experience both check out in my book. But what about chemistry? Is Illinois going to bring someone in who is going to wreck the talent we already have on the roster?

I don’t think Kriisa is that guy. He doesn’t need to be scoring to be effective. In fact, Kriisa’s game makes his teammates better. When you are dishing out 5.1 assists per game, that means you are getting your teammates involved. That is what I love to see.

Illinois hasn’t been mentioned in the pursuit of Kriisa. There hasn’t been a list produced or what he plans to do now that he is in the transfer portal. But I want Brad Underwood and the Illini coaching staff to go after this kid. I think he would be a great addition to what is already a team eyeing great heights.