Indiana basketball sophomore guard Tamar Bates enters transfer portal

Indiana basketball sophomore guard Tamar Bates has entered the transfer portal, sources confirmed to HoosierIllustrated.com.

Bates played in 67 games across two seasons in Bloomington.

For his career, he averaged 5.1 points and 1.4 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game. He shot 34.6 percent from three on 2.3 attempts per game. He made two starts, both coming this season.

“I like to think Tamar Bates — he’s been a guy we targeted when we first brought him (in) to do some special things for us. But as a freshman, he had some ups and downs,” IU head coach Mike Woodson told Jon Rothstein this summer.  “Summer work has just been fantastic for him in terms of his growth and I’m looking for big things from him (this season).”

Bates averaged 6.1 points and shot 37.4 percent from three this season in 35 games. The season was broken up into two halves, however. In the first 19 games of the season he averaged 8.7 points and was shooting 47.2 percent from the floor and 42 percent from three.

In the final 16 games, he averaged 3.1 points and shot just 23.9 percent from the floor. He had seven scoreless games in that span.

Bates was Mike Woodson’s first high school commit after he took the job at Indiana. He was originally committed to Texas before re-opening his recruitment in the spring of 2021.

Bates was a top-30 recruit coming out of high school and had offers from program like Alabama, Texas, Creighton, Iowa State, Kansas State and others.

The 6-foot-4 guard joins Logan Duncomb as the Indiana basketball players who have entered the transfer portal this offseason.

Indiana currently has three scholarship spots open for the 2023-24 season.

SEE ALSO: Indiana basketball set to have in-home visit with Minnesota transfer Jamison Battle

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