There’s been a recent flurry of activity in the transfer portal and every single coaching staff in the country is paying attention. While Arkansas seemed uninvolved in the earlygoing, the Razorbacks grabbed their second addition on Tuesday with Malique Ewin, another major addition to Arkansas’s frontcourt. John Calipari and his staff come through with one of the bigger additions of the early week.
Ewin is a 6-10 forward originally out of Lawrenceville, Georgia who was actually considered a Top 100 prospect in the high school Class of 2022. His initial luck at the collegiate level wasn’t great, and it’s a major reason why Ewin just committed to his fourth school in four years, though he has a chance to really shine in Calipari’s program.
John Calipari gets another transfer portal win by nabbing Malique Ewin
As a freshman, Ewin headed to Ole Miss but didn’t do much, playing sparingly across fourteen games in a disappointing season for both him and the Rebels. After that disappointment, Ewin headed out and became a junior college star at South Plains College in Texas, emerging as one of the nation’s best forwards at that level. That brilliance caught the attention of many D1 programs, with Ewin eventually committing to Leonard Hamilton and Florida State.
Unfortunately, the Seminoles really underwhelmed in what would become Hamilton’s last season in Tallahassee. However, Ewin didn’t waste this second opportunity. He blossomed into one of the most underrated players in the ACC, putting up 14.2 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while making just under 60% of his field goal attempts, a mark that led the conference.
This was a season of great production for Ewin, who had multiple notable efforts with the Seminoles. He had a 17-point, 17-rebound effort in a loss to LSU and would add many more double-doubles during conference play. He put up a career-best 26 points in the regular season finale against SMU and certainly was showing some of his best play in that ACC conference stretch.
Ewin now heads to his fourth school in four seasons, landing in a situation he hopes will be far more prosperous than his previous ones. Arkansas is coming off a surprise run to the Sweet Sixteen but like many teams around the nation are needing to refresh their roster. Much of the Razorbacks’ frontcourt talent is not returning from last season, with Calipari and his staff needing to replace Jonas Aidoo, Zvonimir Ivisic, and other notable names.
Earlier on Tuesday the Razorbacks got a commitment from former South Carolina forward Nick Pringle, meaning this was a very productive day for building this new rotation. Pairing Pringle with Ewin gives quite the frontcourt depth for a team already depending on returning faces like Trevon Brazile and Karter Knox to step up. Arkansas likely isn’t done adding pieces, but getting an ACC starter with this level of production is an enormous victory for this staff.
The bottom line is that you should expect positive contributions from Ewin in his fourth collegiate season. He brings experience and great potential, especially if he continues to develop as an interior scorer and rebounder. We’ll have to see what kinds of strides he can make on the defensive end, but Arkansas is shaping up to be a team that we might see deep into March yet again.