Illinois Basketball: Transfer portal wish list for the Illini

2. Jalen Cook

With the departure of Jayden Epps, Illinois needs more scoring talent in the backcourt. We need players who can handle the ball and also be a danger on the perimeter.

Jalen Cook could be a great option to fill this void. He just finished up his sophomore campaign – the third season in college – with Tulane and is now in the transfer portal. Cook is a 6-foot, 205-pound, point guard who still has two years of eligibility remaining.

When Cook was coming out of Walker High School in Louisiana, he wasn’t a highly rated recruit. He was just a three-star talent who was ranked as the No. 166 player in the class of 2020. But Cook would catch the eye of LSU and he would commit.

Cook spent one season with the Tigers and only played 7.5 minutes per game. After that year, he bolted the program and ended up with Tulane. He would spend two seasons with the Green Wave, and in his final year, he would average 19.9 points, 4.9 assists, 2.9 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game.

There has already been contact between Illinois and Cook. His long list of potential suitors was released a few days back. As of right now, On3.com has him landing back with LSU. Again, I am not sure if this is a solid prediction because it is hard to see a player transfer from a program and then come back to that program.

Illinois needs someone like Cook. He could come into the program and start from day one at the No. 1 spot. With Epps gone, this leaves a huge void. Cook would not only fill that void, but he would be an upgrade from what we had with Epps.