Kentucky reaches out to a former Big 10 guard in the transfer portal

The Wildcats are still looking for talent in the portal.

It sounds like Mark Pope and company are still reaching out to new targets in the transfer portal, which makes sense as they have a ton of open roster spots. 

One new target in the portal is former Minnesota Golden Gopher Elijah Hawkins. The 5'11 guard averaged 9.5 points on the season, but his calling card is passing the basketball as he averaged 7.5 assists per game, which was second most in all of college basketball.

While Hawkins is known for his ability to pass the basketball, he also shot 36.4% from deep last season for the Golden Gophers, making him a threat from beyond the arc. 

In Coach Pope's offense, the basketball moves a lot to help get shooters open looks, so having a player like Hawkins who can make threes when he is open but also find his teammates for open looks would be massive if he chooses to play for the Wildcats. 

Hawkins has also heard from Creighton, Texas Tech, Tennessee, South Carolina, USC, Georgia, and Villanova, among many other schools. 

The next step in the recruitment of Hawkins will be to see which schools are able to get him on campus for a visit. Coach Pope will want to get Hawkins in Lexington, and if he is able to get that done, the Wildcats will have an excellent chance to land this talented guard.

Hawkins will be a name for Big Blue Nation to pay attention to, as he could be on the roster next season if Coach Pope is able to land him.