Top 10 greatest Illinois basketball transfer portal additions of all time

9. Shelly Clark

Junior college was a strong route for some of the Illinois basketball transfers. This is a way to establish a name and become a better ball player. Shelly Clark went that route, and it paid off for him.

Clark entered the college ranks with Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. He played two seasons there with his best campaign coming as a sophomore when he averaged 17.4 points and 13.0 rebounds per contest.

After two seasons, Clark took his talents back home. He played his high school basketball at South Shore in Chicago, so transferring back and playing for the Illini was a logical next move.

Illinois was an okay team with Clark in the fold. We made back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances as a No. 8 and No. 11 seed but never made it out of the first round.

Clark did put up some good numbers, though. As a junior, he averaged 9.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game. He followed that season up with a senior campaign that featured him going off for 11.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.0 steals per game.

I would say the main reason Clark isn’t higher on this list is the lack of postseason success. He didn’t have a pandemic to fall back on, though. Illinois just didn’t have the quality depth needed to make postseason runs. Clark still goes down as one of the top 10 transfers of all time.