Indiana Basketball: Emerging name to know in the 2020 class

While Indiana basketball is heavily involved in multiple top guards’ recruitments, there is an emerging guard that has sparked the Hoosiers interest.

Over the weekend, which was one of the bigger recruiting sessions for college coaches, the Indiana basketball staff was all over the country scouting rising juniors and seniors.

When bigger national names may have had the publicity entering the event, there was one name that stole the spotlight.

Nijel Pack, a 2020 point guard from Lawrence Central, plays with the Indy Heat on the Nike EYBL D1 Circuit and was one of the best players from their event in Atlanta this weekend.

Ranked just 206 in the nation according to 247Sports, Pack had two of the better performances of the weekend, helping lead his team to a perfect 4-0 record.

In their second game, Pack lit up a Boo Williams (VA) team, that includes four five-stars on their roster, for 22 points on 9-of-15 shooting and two made threes. Not only did he score from deep, he also got to the foul line, hit mid-range shots, scored in transition, and in the paint.

Pack then did one more, scoring 33 points in their finale against the New York Lightning, including going 10-for-10 from the line.

At just 6-feet, Pack has been widely overlooked by many high major programs thus far, not holding a single power-five offer. A third-team All-State selection in Indiana, Pack holds offers from Toledo, Southern Illinois, Miami (OH), IUPUI, Indiana State, and Bradley, but Belmont, and soon after, Loyola (IL) joined in on the action as the first schools to offer him after his terrific weekend.

Schools such as Purdue, Iowa, Wichita State, and Cincinnati have been in communication constantly, but none have extended an offer.

The shifty guard averaged 17.2 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game this weekend while shooting 58.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from deep. It goes noticed as well, that he went 16-for-16 from the free throw line.

Though this may be the first time he put up these numbers under the spotlight of high major coaches, he did average 17 points per game his junior season, while also shooting 52 percent from the field and 43 percent from three; so the consistency is there.

This is an interesting recruitment to watch develop as the Hoosiers are heavily involved in Caleb Love, Anthony Leal, Trey Galloway, and Ethan Morton, all of which are guards in the 2020 class.