2022 point guard Tamin Lipsey visits Illinois
Champaign, Ill - Three-star 2022 point guard Tamin Lipsey visited Illinois for the first time this past weekend.
The Ames, Iowa native said Illinois reached out to him this summer and that he wanted to see for himself what the program was all about.
“It was their first time reaching out to me,” Lipsey said. “I never thought Illinois as a school, so I just wanted to come see what it’s like in Illinois, what the programs like, what they like to do and so far the visit has been great.”
“I just want to get to talk to all the coaches, see what they think about me and what I can improve on and stuff,” Lipsey added. “And really, it’s my first time here so I’m just taking it all in, marking things down that I like about it and maybe come back again.”
Showing him around on his visit was Illinois assistant coach Stephen Gentry, who brought Lipsey to the Illinois football game against No. 6 Wisconsin last Saturday. Not a bad game to bring him to.
Lipsey said he’s clicked with Gentry and the coaching staff during their short time together.
“I talk to coach Gentry a lot. I like him a lot,” Lipsey said. “He’s amazing; personality. He’s done a great job coaching already and he’s still young. He’s easy to talk to and he’s a nice guy.
“I like all the coaches; they seem really cool. They’re easy to talk to and gave me a lot of advice coming off of injury and stuff like that.”
Lipsey hasn’t seen much of Illinois’ style of play on the court, but from what he does know, he feels skills as a point guard could potentially fit head coach Brad Underwood’s system.
“I know they run a spread offense a bit, so it really gives room to drive the lane and I like to be able to control the team because I’m a point guard,” Lipsey said. “I like to be able to control the team by driving in and passing out for an assist or something like that, so I’m really still seeing how I would fit in to their program. I’ll be watching more games this season.”
This summer, Lipsey tried out for USA Basketball’s U16 team and made the 18-man roster for training camp and the team’s trip to Brazil. Here’s what Rivals National Recruiting Analyst Eric Bossi had to say on Lipsey making the cut.
“Then there's Lipsey who didn't make any jaw dropping plays but is always where he's supposed to be and plays mistake free ball,” Bossi said. “Hometown Iowa State is already making Lipsey a major priority.”
Lipsey said he really enjoyed his time playing USA Basketball and that it helped him learn a lot.
“It was an amazing experience,” Lipsey said. “I was away from my family for two weeks with training camp then going to Brazil, so it was great. The basketball part of it and just like the personal experience being in a different country and knowing how to act. It was great, I learned a lot.”
This fall, Lipsey has kept himself busy, recovering from an injury while also trying to improve upon his outside shooting he said. In the meantime, he’s been busy taking trips to several Big Ten Programs and Iowa State.
Lipsey has enjoyed the trips overall but has noticed how some programs have been treating him differently.
“They’ve been good. Sometimes you can kind of see sort of how priority you are when you go on a visit just how they treat you,” Lipsey said. “Some of those visits they treat you really good, some, not that treat you bad, but they might focus on their higher recruits, but right here, they’re treating me really good here. I love going on visits everywhere. You never know what school you’re going to go to until you go to that school.”
Lipsey said he was going to try and work out a visit to Minnesota this fall but will also be looking more into Illinois. Seeing the school produce NBA caliber point guards in its history has caught Lipsey’s eye.
“I know they have great past players. Deron Williams was a great point guard. Schools that have great point guards that go to the NBA, I look at those schools very highly,” Lipsey said. “And just knowing that it’s a great basketball school, not saying they’re not great at other sports, but just saying they love basketball.”