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Illinois Basketball: Illini lose 3rd player to the transfer portal

ByRees Woodcock|
Jan 10, 2023; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard RJ Melendez (15) celebrates a three point basket against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 10, 2023; Lincoln, Nebraska, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard RJ Melendez (15) celebrates a three point basket against the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the second half at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-USA TODAY Sports

Another domino in the transfer portal has fallen for the Illinois basketball program.

Last week, the Illini lost a key guard in Jayden Epps. He was going to enter his sophomore campaign as a leader on this team but decided to take his talents to another university.

Following Epps’ departure, Illinois had a big man in Brandon Lieb leave the team. He had been a deep bench rotation guy for much of his career.

Now we have a third Illinois player departing the program. On Monday afternoon, it was officially announced that RJ Melendez would be entering the transfer portal. The talented wing is now looking for a new home after spending two seasons with the Orange and Blue.

Illinois basketball is losing the transfer portal battle after the RJ Melendez departure

I think everyone would agree that Melendez took a step backward this past season. After joining the Illinois program as a four-star recruit in 2021, Melendez had a solid freshman campaign.

Melendez would really help the Illini be competitive in the game against Houston in the NCAA tournament. A freshman season of 3.8 points and 1.7 rebounds was a lot to build on as he entered his second year in Champaign.

But that second year didn’t go as planned. Melendez would cut his field goal shooting from 56.9% to 37.6%, and his three-point shooting would drop from 60% to 26.4%. The leap that everyone was expecting never happened, and it was a struggle for all but a couple of games this past season.

I don’t blame Melendez for transferring. It was clear that he needed a fresh start, so him quitting on the team doesn’t come as a surprise.

Illinois is now left in a weird position. We are losing the transfer portal as I type this out. So far, we have had our starting No. 1 and, potentially, our starting No. 4 leave the team. That is going to hurt this program as far as depth goes.

The Illini are -3 net so far this offseason. We need to start picking up transfer portal players here in the next week or this upcoming season could be a massive struggle. There are still some big options available. This is where Brad Underwood and the coaching staff make their money.

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