Louisville transfer Ellis joining Arkansas hoops

Louisville men’s basketball transfer El Ellis announced his commitment to Arkansas on Monday, giving Eric Musselman and the Razorbacks their fifth transfer addition of the offseason.

A former junior college transfer, Ellis spent the past two seasons at Louisville and will have one year of eligibility left when he arrives in Fayetteville. After averaging 8.7 points and shooting 36% from 3 during his first season with the Cardinals, Ellis moved into more of a scoring role under Kenny Payne this past season. He averaged 17.7 points and 4.4 assists, scoring at least 28 points on five occasions.

Ellis had back-to-back 29-point efforts against Wright State and Appalachian State in November, then had 30 points and 10 assists in a win over Western Kentucky in December.

The Durham, North Carolina, native earned honorable mention All-ACC honors despite Louisville going 4-28 this season. Ellis was ranked No. 99 in ESPN’s transfer rankings.

Ellis is the fifth transfer pickup for Musselman and Arkansas so far this spring, following Washington’s Keyon Menifield, Houston’s Tramon Mark, Temple’s Khalif Battle and Cincinnati’s Jeremiah Davenport. The Razorbacks are also bringing in top-30 recruits Baye Fall and Layden Blocker.