Illinois Basketball Adds Mid-Major Guard to Portal Watch

Originally posted on Armchair Illini
By Kirkland Chappell | Last updated 3/26/24

Illinois Basketball Adds Mid-Major Guard to Portal Watch

Portal Updates, an account on “X” dedicated to, exactly what it sounds like, posted an interesting tidbit involving Illinois basketball. According to the transfer portal news feed, Brad Underwood and Illinois Basketball have been in communication with De’Shayne Montgomery. The Mount St. Mary’s Freshman was a star in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference in 2023-24. On March 18th, De’Shayne entered his name into the portal. Very quickly, he became one of the hottest commodities in the transfer portal guard market.

See his list below, along with the original post from @portal_updates.

Via @portal_updates on X (Twitter)

What we know about De’Shayne

Montgomery was very productive as a freshman in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. He totaled an average of 13.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 2.0 apg, and 11.7 steals per game in 2023-24. The native of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida was named rookie of the year in the MAAC, despite having played on a mightily struggling team. The Mountaineers flopped over the course of the season, going 13-19 overall, and 9-11 in conference. Certainly, a reason De’Shayne may hade decided to test the waters of the portal, and see what else may be out there for him, on a larger scale. Boy, was that hunch correct. He has built himself a laundry list of schools who have been in nearly immediate contact with him. Including sweet sixteen bound Illinois Basketball.

Why It Matters

With a slew of veterans like Marcus Domask, Terrance Shannon, Coleman Hawkins, Justin Harmon and Quincy Guerrier exiting for professional careers and beyond, there will be holes. Brad Underwood and the rest of the Illinois Basketball staff will need to quickly get to hard work after their run at Phoenix. It seems that the time for that however, is already here for Underwood and staff. Point guard is a major position of need in 2024-25, and De’Shayne could be a possible candidate to watch.