The Oregon women’s basketball team has signed former Purdue guard Justine Hall to the program, after it was announced yesterday that she would transfer from Purdue, UO head coach Kelly Graves announced Wednesday via a news release.
The 5-foot-10 guard is on campus at the University of Oregon now and begins classes while planning to major in business Thursday morning. Hall can play for the Ducks after the fall quarter of next school year as a junior.
A native of Denver, Colorado, Hall appeared in 10 games this season for Purdue, averaging 1.8 points per game in 8.1 minutes. She scored a career-best 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting against Incarnate Word on Dec. 10.
“I am thrilled to have Justine join our program,” Graves said in a news release. “I have followed her career through high school and at Purdue and always felt her combination of tremendous work ethic, strong skill set, incredible athleticism and high basketball IQ would be a perfect fit for our program.
“It’s never easy to transfer mid-year, but I am very confident Justine will transition well. Our team will embrace her with open arms and that she will become a great Duck.”
Graves said in an interview with The Emerald that he worked hard to recruit Hall while coaching at Gonzaga and jumped at the opportunity to bring her to Eugene. Many of her family members live in Portland, Graves said.
“We were ready if indeed she did transfer,” Graves said. “… I like long, athletic and skilled guards. I think she just didn’t fit what they were trying to do. She’s a much better fit, I think, for how we play the game.”
Hall was the second departure for Purdue so far this season. She was the No. 74 player overall according to espnW’s rankings out of high school.
Last season, she appeared in 20 games for Purdue, averaging 4.8 minutes per game.
“This was one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make because of my teammates and everyone I was involved with at Purdue,” Hall said in a news release. “I am very thankful for the time and effort that was invested in me athletically and academically. I am looking forward to this new opportunity at Oregon and to grow as a person and a player and improve every day. I am very excited to be closer to family and I look forward to seeing them more often.”
Follow Jonathan Hawthorne on Twitter @Jon_Hawthorne
