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Former Baylor forward officially joins Illinois via transfer

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

Dain Dainja won’t be able to suit up for Illinois this season, but he’s officially joined the Fighting Illini program and begin training with the team.

Tuesday evening, Illinois announced that Dainja, who spent last season and part of this year at Baylor, has officially joined the team. He can begin practicing and training with the squad and will be eligible to play at the start of the 2022-23 season.

Dainja appeared in the first three games of the season for Baylor before entering his name into the NCAA transfer portal. The 6-foot-9 forward played 9 minutes this year, scoring 6 points and grabbing 3 rebounds.

Per 247Sports, Dainja is a former 4-star recruit and was ranked just outside of the Top 50 prospects for the 2020 recruiting cycle. He was a member of Baylor’s 2021 national championship-winning team.

Dainja will add size and depth to the Illinois roster for next season and will have the opportunity to practice against one of the top big men in the country in center Kofi Cockburn.

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB