El Ellis
G || 6-3 || 180 || Grad. Sr.
Durham, N.C. (Quality Education Acad./Tallahassee CC/Univ. of Louisville)
Ellis, who has one year of collegiate eligibility remaining, scored 843 points in two seasons at Louisville, including 565 last season. He also showed dramatic improvement from his junior season to his senior season in his field goals made (96 to 189), free throws made (45 to 128) and assists (51 to 140) … Ellis played two seasons at Tallahassee CC and two at Louisville … He graduated from Louisville in the spring of 2023 with a degree in sport management and he will pursue a second undergraduate degree from Arkansas in Arts & Sciences.
2022-23 (Senior at Louisville):
- Named All-ACC Honorable Mention.
- Averaged team-highs with 17.7 points and 4.4 assists while starting all 32 games and averaging 36 minutes per contest.
- Led the Cardinals in scoring in 21 of 32 games, including 13 games with at least 20 points and led the team in assists in 30 of 32 games with 25 games having at least three assists, including 15 games with at least five.
- In the ACC, ranked 2nd in minutes, third in scoring and sixth in both free throws made (128) and attempted (158) … Shot 81% from the free throw line, which ranked 12th in the ACC.
- Played 89.9% of the possible minutes in the season, the second-highest utilization rate in program history behind Jim Price’s 94.2% in 1969-70.
- Only UofL player along with Darrell Griffith with multiple 30-point, five-assist games in a season.
- Named one of three team captains.
- 1 of 5 UofL players since at least 1992 to have 565 points and 140 assists in a season, joining Russ Smith, Francisco Garcia, Reece Gaines and DeJuan Wheat.
- Had 28 double-digit scoring games, as well as 13 games with 20-plus points.
- Named ACC Co-Player of the Week on Feb. 20 after averaging 24.5 points vs. Clemson and Virginia.
- Averaged 25.8 points per game in February stretch against the league’s top four seeds (at Miami, vs. Virginia, vs. Clemson, at Duke).
- Had 30 points and a career-high 10 assists for his first career double-double against Western Kentucky.
- Scored a career-high 33 points with five assists at Miami.
- Scored 23 points (8-of-10 FT) with a career-high four steals at Kentucky.
2022-23 (Junior at Louisville):
- Ranked third on the team in assists (51 total in 32 games), averaging 20.5 minutes of action per game … Started nine games, including six of the last nine.
- ACC Sixth Man of the Year runner-up as he averaged 8.6 points in the 23 games in which he came off the bench, scoring in double figures on 10 occasions as a reserve.
- Led UofL in scoring on five occasions and has scored 18 or more four times.
- Double-figure scorer in seven of the last 12 games, including 25 in the Feb. 1 meeting against North Carolina.
- Averaged 10.2 points per game over the last 18 games — top for the Cardinals in that stretch, while hitting 30-of-82 3-pointers (.366), including 11.3 ppg in the last 12 games.
- Had 10 points and a season-best six assists vs. Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament first round on March 8.
- Scored 18 points off the bench against Pitt and followed it with 14 points at Florida State.
- Scored 22 points off the bench at Michigan State … Had scored just 27 points in his first six games of the season prior to that game.
Junior College Career at Tallahassee
- Was ranked as the top junior college prospect in the nation in the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
- Averaged 17.7 points, 4.3 assists and 3.4 rebounds while connecting on 55-of-132 three-pointers (.417) and 75.9 percent of his free throws (85-of-112) in leading Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College to a 19-3 record in 2020-21.
- A two-time All-America … Named first team 2021 All-America by the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), becoming Tallahassee’s first two-time All-American … • After leading his team to a 27-6 record in 2019-20, earned NJCAA second-team All-America honors.
- Honored as the 2020 and 2021 Panhandle Conference Player of the Year, becoming Tallahassee’s first repeat Player of the Year winner and just the conference’s third overall since 1997 … Also featured on the FCSAA All-State team.
- Scored a season-high 34 points against St. Petersburg on Jan. 30 and scored 20 or more in 10 games as a sophomore.
- Made multiple three-pointers in 15 games for Tallahassee, which ranked 14th in the nation in the final NJCAA Division I poll.
- His team’s schedule was delayed because of the pandemic during his sophomore year in 2021, starting on Jan. 20 and running through March 27.
- Averaged 14.3 points, 4.5 assists and 3.9 rebounds as a freshman at TCC, connecting on 40.3 percent of his three-point goals (52-of-129) and 84.5 percent of his free throws.
High School
- Before moving to junior college, Ellis scored 2,382 career points at Quality Education Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C. He averaged 16.7 points, 4.7 assists and 1.2 steals as a senior.
