University of Illinois Springfield men’s basketball coach Bill Walker has signed Gilwan Nelson, a player who already has a strong connection to the program.
The 6-foot-5 wing from Mount Vernon is a close friend of UIS sophomore forward Bahari Amaya, who is from Harrisburg.
Nelson played the previous two seasons at Olney Central College. He averaged a team-high 14.5 points as a sophomore. He also averaged 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
“He is a good scorer and will be able to score at this level,” Walker said. “His best value for us is he is so versatile offensively and defensively. He can guard any position on the floor.”
Nelson is expected to give the Prairie Stars different defensive options. He is interchangeable and really values defense. That’s really the kind of guy what we needed.”
UIS is expected to return everyone except senior forward Paxton Harmon from last season’s 9-18 team.
This story was reported in The State Journal-Register on April 12, 2017.
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