Foster joins Richardson in transfer portal, leaves Hawks in need of bonafide scorers

QUINCY — The Quincy University men’s basketball team’s need for shooters has grown into a need for scorers and ball-handlers as well.

Senior swingman Zion Richardson entered the transfer portal last week, giving himself the opportunity to transfer as a graduate student with one year of eligibility remaining. Monday, sophomore point guard Isaiah Foster entered the portal, seeking a new landing spot with two years of eligibility remaining.

That means the Hawks have to replace their top two scorers from a team that finished 11-17 overall and 6-14 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference.

The 6-foot-4 Richardson, who began his college career at Wofford University in 2019 and transferred to QU prior to the 2022-23 season after missing two seasons with an injury, started all 26 games in which he played this winter, averaging a team-leading 17.7 points and making a team-high 42 3-pointers. He also led the Hawks in rebounding at 7.2 boards per game.

The second-team All-GLVC selection shot 42.9 percent from the field, 33.6 percent from 3-point range and 84.4 percent from the free-throw line.

In 53 career games, Richardson averaged 14.5 points, scoring 769 points total points. He was QU’s second-leading scorer during the 2022-23 season at 11.4 points per game.

Meanwhile, the 6-foot-1 Foster was the Hawks’ second-leading scorer at 11.9 points and was second on the team with 68 assists. The Frisco, Texas, product committed a team-high 70 turnovers and was second on the team with 35 steals.

Foster started all 28 games this season and played in all 29 games as a freshman during the 2022-23 season, starting six times. He averaged 7.8 points as a freshman and finished with 60 assists against 49 turnovers.

The departure of Richardson and Foster and the graduation of Nate Shockey means sophomore Mason Wujek will be the Hawks’ top returning scorer as the 6-foot-8 forward averaged 7.7 points and 4.3 rebounds.

The Hawks finished 11th in the 14-team GLVC in scoring at 71.3 points per game and ranked last in field-goal shooting at 41.6 percent and 13th in 3-point shooting at 30.8 percent. They also committed the third most turnovers in the league with 372 overall or 13.3 per game.

Quincy has received commitments from Logan Robbins, a 6-foot-5 forward from Liberty who will be transferring from John Wood Community College; Tiernan Stynes, a 6-foot-6 guard from Melbourne, Australia; and Max Booher, a 6-foot-2 guard from Greenwood Christian Academy in Greenwood, Ind.