Big Ten Basketball: Top 20 impact transfers heading into 2021-22 season

No. 5 Alfonso Plummer – Illinois

Coming from the PAC-12 after two seasons with the Utah Utes, the last season being one where he started just 16 of 25 games and averaged fewer than thirty minutes per game, the 6-1 guard from Puerto Rico is equipped to make his first Big Ten Basketball season, the biggest of his career.

Plummer did not let the non-starting role affect his shot attempts, as he attempted over 11 per game, with almost seven of those shots being from behind the arc. He will need to keep this mentality as he will be playing in the backcourt behind Andre Curbelo and Trent Frazier.

By coming off the bench, Plummer is going to be asked to score points, which he can in various ways. Plummer’s versatility in scoring points gives Coach Brad Underwood options. Plummer is deadly coming off a screen with his quick release from beyond the arc, and there are few bigger screens in NCAA than Kofi Cockburn. If Plummer is given any space as a defender fights through Cockburn’s 285-pound screen, Plummer is capable of hitting 38 percent of those three-pointers.

Plummer is also able to play off his shot by using a pump fake to be able to step in from the arc and find a closer look. Those closer looks are usually pull-ups from the elbows or he passes to a teammate with a better look.

His willingness to find the open man is not demonstrated by the one assist he averaged per game, but by the ever-so-slightly more free throws he attempted per game. Even though he does not get to the line much, he does make over 83 percent of his free throws, a category the Fighting Illini were sorely lacking in last season.