Ben Johnson and the Minnesota Golden Gophers have added another guard to their roster for the 2023-2024 season. On Monday morning, Howard transfer Elijah Hawkins announced his commitment to the Gophers. His commitment comes after an official visit over the weekend.
Hawkins will come to Minneapolis after playing 59 games over the last two seasons for Howard which included 55 starts. Over those 59 career games, the former DeMatha Catholic (MD) standout has averaged 12.9 points, 5.8 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game this season.
He's a career 40.7% shooter from the field but is a fantastic shooter from deep, hitting 38.3% of his shots including a phenomenal 46.6% this past season. As a sophomore, Hawkins may have only averaged .1 points more than his freshman season but took a big step forward in his efficiency. His true shooting percentage rose from 48.6% to 58.6% his effective field goal percentage went from 42.8% to 53.8%. His offensive rating saw a huge boost from 94.2 to 106.5.
Defensively, Hawkins is solid, after posting a defensive rating of 92.7 as a freshman, it rose to 100.8 this past year but with the strides he took offensively as a shooter, you will take that trade-off. A defensive rating of 100.8 is still quality and will get the job done.
He'll join a Gophers backcourt that includes Pepperdine transfer, Mike Mitchell, Braeden Carrington, Will Ramberg, and Jackson Purcell. They also have 2023 shooting guard signee Cameron Christie set to enroll.
With a revamped frontcourt this upcoming season, the Gophers will hope to improve upon a 9-22 season which included going just 2-17 in Big Ten play.
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