By Otis Kirk

FAYETTEVILLE -- Eric Musselman has added a fifth recruit from the transfer portal with the addition of Louisville guard El Ellis.

Ellis, 6-3, 180, is a combo guard who averaged 17.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.0 steal per outing. He shot 41.0% from the field, 81.0 from the free throw line and 31.9 from behind the 3-point line.

Ellis averaged 36 minutes in the 32 games he played this past season. Among those games was against Arkansas in the Maui Classic. Ellis finished with 11 points (4 of 16 field goals, including 2 of 5 from 3, and 1 of 2 free throws), 3 rebounds, and 2 assists in 31 minutes in the Hogs' 80-54 first-round win.

Ellis has put his name in for the 2023 NBA Draft, but hasn't hired an agent thus is eligible to still play at Arkansas if he withdraws in time. 

He played two seasons at Louisville after transferring in from Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College. He was generally rated the top JUCO prospect in 2020-21. 

In this recruiting class, he joins Houston junior-transfer Tramon Mark, Temple grad-transfer Khalif Battle, Washington freshman-transfer Keyon Menifield, Jr., Cincinnati grad-transfer Jeremiah Davenport, 2023 5-star high school signee Baye Fall, and 2023 5-star high school signee Layden Blocker.

Photo courtesy of University of Louisville Communications Office.