Former Illinois Basketball Star Shows out in G-League

Originally posted on Armchair Illini | By Alex Kyi | Last updated 12/8/23

Former Illinois Basketball Star Shows out in G-League

Malcolm Hill was a prominent name for Illinois Basketball fans who went to the school in the mid-2010’s. Malcolm poured his heart and soul into trying to will the Illinois basketball program into the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, Hill never played in March Madness. However, he left a pretty robust legacy and left Illinois Basketball as the third-leading scorer in the program’s history. Ever since graduating in 2017, Malcolm played a few years overseas until he suffered a pretty significant knee injury. Since that time, Malcolm has bounced between the NBA and the G-league.

He actually landed on the Chicago Bulls roster for a brief period. Malcolm was one of the depth pieces for the Bulls, however, made for a fun story alongside fellow Illini, Ayo Dosunmu. The Bulls moved on from Malcolm, however, he continues to grind away in the G-league. He most recently put up two pretty impressive games amidst a solid start to the season.

Malcolm Hill with the hustle pic.twitter.com/ncwkVdSWUe

— Birmingham Squadron (@GleagueSquadron) December 8, 2023

A theme of 30-point games for Illinois?

Malcolm Hill currently plays for the Birmingham Squadron. The team is the G-league affiliate for the New Orleans Pelicans. Hill is a starter for the squad and currently averages 19.6 ppg, 7.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists. The Belleville native has always been a stat-sheet stuffer who plays both ends of the floor. He also adds an impressive 1.6 steals to his 40 percent 3pt percentage.

Most recently, he has added to the Illinois Basketball theme of 30-point games. Marcus Domask and Terrence Shannon Jr dropped 33 points in their win against FAU. This past week, Malcolm Hill has dropped 30 points and 33 points in his last two games respectively. Regardless of what comes of Malcolm Hill’s NBA journey, Illini fans can trust that Malcolm is going to put forth his very best. That is what he did for the University of Illinois for four years. Despite the overall tough time of the John Groce era, Malcolm Hill remains one of the few positive memories of that time. We can hope that he reconnects to an NBA roster to continue living out his dream.

Malcolm Hill came to play! The @GleagueSquadron forward poured in a career-high 33 points on 7 triples to lead the way in an afternoon win at home. pic.twitter.com/znsg3HpfnF

— NBA G League (@nbagleague) December 8, 2023