Purdue Basketball Recruiting: Still Recruiting the Transfer Portal

Coach Matt Painter and his staff are still recruiting the transfer portal.

We are in desperate need for a starting point guard, especially after the decision of Eric Hunter Jr to head to Butler to be even closer to home.

But. time is running short, generally, you want these guys on campus for summer workouts with the team to start building that team chemistry, something Purdue has hung it’s hat on.

But, who is out there still?

Option number 1 has to be Tyrese Hunter. Hunter is probably the best transfer guard left out there and it a top priority for Coach Matt Painter. Hunter is being widely recruited still, it seems like Purdue, Texas and Tennessee are the final 3 still on him.

Hunter would come in an immediately absorb the minutes left from Eric Hunter Jr, so we are talking 30+ minutes. In his single season at Iowa State, he averaged 11 points, 5 assists and 3 rebounds per game. Those would all increase at Purdue.

Next option has to be Chattanooga transfer, Malachi Smith. He has been in the portal for less than a month and is weighing all of his options. He is a scoring machine. He is the main reason why Chattanooga was in the tournament. He averaged right under 20 points per game. 3 assists per game and 6.5 rebounds per game. At 6-4, he could be the point guard or off guard.

Another option could be a stout defender in Courtney Ramey from Texas, who was in charge of checking Jaden Ivey in the tournament game. Ramey is more of an off guard, but scored right around 10 points per game, 2 assists per game and 3 rebounds per game. He would have one year of eligibility left, but could be a nice stop gap before Gibbs and Colvin arrive to West Lafayette.

Whoever it is, we need someone. We have missed on several early transfers, I don’t need to remind anyone this. But, without a transfer, we could be rolling out freshman guard Braden Smith at the point or Ethan Morton.

I am fine with both, but, would also love to bolster the position a bit.