4/6/2020 basketball Edit

Former Arkansas signee Justice Hill finds new home

Justice Hill played at Salt Lake C.C. in Utah this season. (Salt Lake C.C. Athletics)

Andrew Hutchinson • HawgBeat

Managing Editor

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Arkansas’ last recruit of the Mike Anderson era has found a new home.

Point guard Justice Hill, who spent one semester with the Razorbacks before transferring to Salt Lake C.C., announced Monday that he’d continue his collegiate career at Murray State. He has three years of eligibility remaining.

The only high school signee in Arkansas’ 2019 class, Hill actually graduated from Little Rock Christian a semester early so he could practice with his future teammates over the second half of the 2018-19 season.

Despite being committed since his freshman year, Hill announced he was entering the transfer portal a couple of months after Eric Musselman was introduced as the new head coach.

He landed at Salt Lake C.C. in Utah, where he averaged 13.9 points, 4.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals while helping the Bruins to a 29-4 record and No. 4 overall seed in the NJCAA national tournament - which was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Those numbers helped Hill earn one of 10 spots on the NJCAA’s All-America first team and several Division I offers. Most of them were from mid-major programs - Loyola Marymount, Middle Tennessee State, Hawaii, New Mexico, Florida International, Fresno State, Nevada and East Carolina - but he did get offers from Washington State and Wichita State.

Ultimately, he picked a Murray State program that went 23-9 and tied for the regular-season OVC championship. The Racers have had three point guards drafted since 2013, including No. 2 overall pick Ja Morant in last year’s NBA Draft.

The son of former Arkansas wide receiver coach and recruiting coordinator Fitz Hill, he had been rumored as a possible two-sport athlete. As a football player, Hill led Little Rock Christian to a state title, was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for Arkansas and picked up offers to play the sport in college, including from Auburn.

Then-head coach Chad Morris even announced Hill would join the football team for spring practice after basketball season, but that never came to fruition.

Hill will be one of nine former Razorbacks playing at other Division I programs next season.

Arkansas Transfers at DI Schools

~Ibrahim Ali - Tulane

~Keyshawn Embery-Simpson - Tulsa

~Darious Hall - DePaul

~Jalen Harris - Georgetown

~Brachen Hazen - Ball State

~Justice Hill - Murray State

~C.J. Jones - Middle Tennessee State

~Gabe Osabuohien - West Virginia

~Jordan Phillips - Texas-Arlington

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