UM lands basketball transfers Blackmon and Marshall
It was a productive weekend for the University of Miami women’s and men’s basketball programs, as both teams landed promising transfers.
Stetson guard Jalen Blackmon, the nation’s 10th-leading scorer last season with 21.3 points per game, will be joining the Hurricanes. Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported that Blackmon committed to UM and a school source told the Miami Herald an announcement is expected late Sunday afternoon.
Blackmon, a 6-3 junior with one year of eligibility remaining, chose UM over BYU, Cal, Villanova and Northwestern. He shot 43 percent from the field and 38 percent from threepoint range last season.
He began his college career at Grand Canyon University in the WAC and transferred to Stetson for his sophomore season. He averaged 15.4 points as a sophomore.
Blackmon, son of former Kentucky player James Blackmon, has an impressive basketball pedigree. He was a four-star ESPN recruit coming out of high school, ranking 18th all-time for Indiana high school basketball career scoring with 2,269 points despite only playing eight games during his junior season.
He holds Marion High School’s all-time career scoring record, bettering his father’s 1,898 points. He averaged 33.5 points as a high school senior in 2020-21 and 27.3 points throughout his high school career. He scored 55 points in his high school finale state playoff game in March 2021.
His father was a runnerup to Steve Alford for the Indiana Mr. Basketball award. He played for Kentucky and was the No. 5 pick in the NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. He went on to play in the
CBA and World Basketball League.
One brother, James Jr., was a McDonald’s AllAmerican, played at Indiana from 2014-17 and has played in the G-League, Italy and Turkey. The other brother, Vijay, played at St. Francis, Indiana and Lindenwood
A day earlier, Natalija Marshall, a 6-5 center/ forward from Notre
Dame, announced that she had joined the UM women’s team as a grad transfer. The New York native was a member of the 2023 ACC Regular Season Championship Fighting Irish team as well as the 2024 ACC Regular Season and Tournament Championships.
She set career highs last season in points per game (5.0), rebounds per game (3.7) and minutes per game (20.2). Marshall joins twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder, and Daniela Abies as transfer additions to the Hurricanes 2024-25 team.
“I’m so excited to share that I’ll be using my fifth year of eligibility at the University of Miami while also getting my Master’s degree in Sport Administration,” Marshall announced on social media.
Elsewhere: Former
Ivy League Player of the Year Kaitlyn Chen is transferring from Princeton to UConn. The 5foot-9 senior guard announced her commitment to the Huskies on Sunday on social media. Chen averaged 15.8 points, 4.9 assists and 1.3 steals in 30 games (all starts) for the Tigers in 2023-24. She was a two-time All-Ivy League first-team selection and the league’s player of the year in 2022-23. In 90 games (80 starts) over three seasons at Princeton, the California native averaged 14.2 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds.
ETC.
Golf: Brendan Steele closed with a 4-under 68 on Sunday to hold off Louis Oosthuizen and win the LIV Golf Adelaide championship by one stroke in South Australia.
It was the first victory since the 2017 Safeway
Open on the PGA Tour for the 41-year-old American, who carded a 54-hole total of 18-under 198.
Steele began the day with a one-shot lead and birdied five consecutive holes on the front nine at The Grange Golf Club, building enough of a cushion to survive Oosthuizen’s charge. The South African shot a 7-under 65 to lose by one stroke.
“Really surreal,” said Steele, whose trophy is the first for his HyFlyers GC team. “I’m pretty overwhelmed, but to win this event is really special. I can’t say enough good things about the fans and the golf course and the whole experience this week.”
Five players finished tied for third, two strokes back at 16 under, including South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel and Spain’s Jon Rahm who both shot 64 on Sunday. Andy Ogletree (65 on Sunday), Chile’s Joaquin Niemann (66) and South Africa’s Dean Burmester (67) also shared third place.
LIV returns to action next week with the May 3-5 Singapore event at Sentosa Golf Club, where Talor Gooch is the defending individual champion.
WNBA: Two-time WNBA MVP and threetime champion Candace Parker announced her retirement on Sunday.
The seven-time All-Star was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks.
Parker won her third championship with the
Las Vegas Aces in 2023, her 16th season in the league.
Parker, who turned 38 on April 19, also won titles with the Sparks (2016) and Chicago Sky (2021).
“I know you gon miss me ... I’m retiring,” Parker began her post Sunday on Instagram.
“I promised I’d never cheat the game & that I’d leave it in a better place than I came into it. The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it’s time,” she wrote. “My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it.”
She was the Rookie of the Year and the league MVP in 2008 and added a second MVP award in 2013. Other accolades include All-Star Game MVP (2013), Finals MVP (2016) and Defensive Player of the Year (2020).
She averaged 16..0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.5 blocks in 410 games (406 starts) with the Sparks (2008-20), Sky (2021-22) and Aces (2023).
Parker ranks third in WNBA history in rebounds (3,467), fifth in blocks (619), seventh in assists (1,634) and ninth in points (6,574).
Parker was a two-time NCAA champion and two-time Wooden Award winner at Tennessee. In 2006, she became the first woman ever to dunk in an NCAA Tournament game.
She won Olympic gold medals with Team USA at Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.
Tennis: No. 13 seed Danielle Collins extended her career-best run of consecutive victories to 15 with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win over Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian on Sunday to reach the round of 16 at the Matua Madrid Open in Spain.
Collins had eight aces and won 76 percent of her first-serve points while keeping her winning streak alive.
Collins dropped the first set before never trailing in the second and dominating in the third. She won the final five games of the match.
The 30-year-old American began her winning streak with titles in Miami and Charleston.
Collins will next face either No. 2 Aryna Salabenka of Belarus or American Robin Montgomery.
No. 4 Elena Rybakina
of Kazakhstan sailed to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Mayar Sherif of Egypt.
Rybakina next faces Czech Sara Bejlek, who sailed to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Ashlyn Krueger.