Indiana freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino declares for NBA Draft

Indiana freshman guard Jalen Hood-Schifino has declared for the NBA Draft, he announced on Friday morning. He will forgo his remaining college eligibility.

The 6-foot-4 guard has emerged as a lottery pick in the 2023 NBA Draft due to his play this season.

“For me, the time is now. This has been a dream of mine since I was a little boy,” Hood-Schifino told ESPN. “My freshman season was nothing short of amazing. My coaches kept their word by having the ultimate trust in me as a freshman. We didn’t win a national championship, but overall the season was successful and experiencing March Madness was a surreal moment.”

Hood-Schifino was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year this season as well as All-Big Ten Second-Team. He averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this season. He shot 41.7 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from three.

He scored in double-figures in 22 of the 32 games played this season.

Hood-Schifino was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week five times this season, including Big Ten Player of the Week once.

He was the first Indiana player to have multiple 30+ point games in his first season since Eric Gordon. His 35 points against Purdue were the second-most points by an Indiana freshman. It was also the first time in the last 25 years for a freshman to score at least 35 points in a road victory over an AP top-5 team.

“It’s something I saw in high school, and high school is not college,” Woodson said after IU’s win over Maryland in the Big Ten Tournament. “Once he got here, you could see how he approached things on and off the floor, his demeanor. It’s been a nice carryover from high school to college. He’s still growing. He has still a ways to go, but the fact that nobody says anything — us losing Xavier Johnson was huge, and it just threw him right to the wolves basically. He had to grow up awfully fast. And in doing that, he’s been great for us, man. He’s done a lot of great things for us to put us in this position.”

After Xavier Johnson went down with a season-ending injury on Dec. 17, Hood-Schifino averaged 15.0 points per game and shot 43.3 percent from the floor. He

Hood-Schifino came to Indiana as a five-star prospect and ranked inside the top-25 of the 2022 recruiting class.

The Indiana basketball program now currently has five open scholarships ahead of the 2023-24 season. The Hoosiers are still waiting on a decision for a medical hardship waiver for Xavier Johnson.

The NBA draft combine is set for May 15-21 in Chicago, and the draft will be June 22 in New York.

SEE ALSO: Indiana basketball announces addition of Ball State transfer Payton Sparks

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