NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State head men's basketball coach Dan Muller has announced the addition of former University of Massachusetts standout Sy Chatman. Chatman will sit out the 2020-21 season to fulfill the NCAA's transfer residency requirement and will play for the Redbirds starting in the 2021-22 season.
"Sy is a young man who has incredible potential," said Muller. "He is an athletic forward who has great skill. Sy won a State Championship in Minnesota and we believe his best basketball is in front of him. I'm very excited to be a big part of the next chapter of Sy's life as a Redbird."
Chatman, a 6-8 forward, played in six games for the Minutemen as a sophomore in the 2019-20 season earning a pair of starts. He scored a season-high 16 points against Rutgers on November 29, scored seven points, with seven rebounds and two blocked shots against South Carolina on December 4, and added 10 points to go along with five rebounds against Harvard on December 7.
As a freshman he played in 29 games with four starts and averaged 3.7 points and 2.2 rebounds per game. He made 52 percent of his shots from the field while also blocking 18 shots. He scored 10 points in the second game of the season against New Hampshire and pulled down a season-high six rebounds at Temple with two blocked shots in six different games.
A graduate of Cretin-Derham Hall in Saint Paul, Minnesota, he was named Associated Press Third Team All-Minnesota (along with current Illinois State signee Josiah Strong) and to the State Tournament team after averaging 17.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists per game in his final season and helped lead the Raiders to the 2018 Minnesota State title.
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