The Wisconsin Badgers landed another player in the transfer portal on Monday evening and it was Northern Illinois forward Xavier Amos. Amos entered the transfer portal on March 27 and he is the second player to commit to the Badgers program through the transfer portal for next season.
The other player to commit through the portal was Camren Hunter, a point guard from the Central Arkansas Bears. Amos was a sophomore last season with the Northern Illinois Huskies. He is 6’8″ and weighs 215 lbs and is from the Chicago, Illinois area. It is also interesting that he left his home state for another basketball program.
1000% committed pic.twitter.com/jvcmxrZLVX
— Xavier M. Amos (@WYoungX1) April 29, 2024
It was also intriguing that he decided to choose the Wisconsin Badgers over a basketball program like the Illinois Fighting Illini in the BIG10 Conference. Along with Illinois, some of the other basketball programs that were interested in landing him were the Virginia Cavaliers, the Kansas Jayhawks, the Texas Longhorns, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the California Golden Bears, the Xavier Musketeers, and others.
Last season with Northern Illinois, he averaged 13.8 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.3 BPG, and 0.8 SPG. Xavier Amos shot 49.6% from the field last season and 38.5% from three, but he shot only 64.8% from the field.
Getting a very good three-point shooter in the transfer portal was important for head coach Greg Gard and the Wisconsin Badgers basketball program. Amos can very well be the Tyler Wahl replacement for next season.
Wisconsin Badgers Transfer Xavier Amos Played Against Two BIG10 Conference Teams a Season Ago With the Northern Illinois Huskies
Last season, Northern Illinois played two teams from the BIG10 Conference. They faced the Northwestern Wildcats on November 27, 2023, and the Iowa Hawkeyes on December 29, 2023. Against Northwestern last season, he scored 26 points and grabbed seven rebounds.
The Wildcats were one of the better teams in the BIG10 Conference a season ago. The Badgers did beat them in the BIG10 tournament last season. Both Wisconsin and Northwestern qualified for the big dance a season ago while the Iowa Hawkeyes did not.
Against Iowa, he only scored six points, grabbed three rebounds, and recorded three assists. The good news is that Xavier Amos did face some BIG10 competition and will face a lot more of it in 2024-2025. He was only a sophomore a season ago and will be eligible for two more seasons. With the two transfers they landed, the Badgers didn’t have one-year rentals. They wanted players who would be there for at least another two seasons.
