Philip Alston becomes the first transfer to commit to Drew Valentine and the Loyola Men’s Basketball team. Alston is a standout player from California University of Pennsylvania where he averaged 21 points, 10.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game this past season. The 6’6 division 2 transfer held plenty of D1 offers and I believe Loyola beat out such programs as Ohio, Ole Miss and Pittsburgh. Drew and staff got Alston to feel right at home this past week as he was visiting Rogers Park April 7th – 8th, then committing the next day on April 9th. Excited to have the first commitment in this season’s transfer portal and I know the team is eager to add more.
Right away Philp Alston’s highlights get me very excited with his powerful one handed jams. From his tape I love watching his drive to the rim, either pushing up the floor himself or waiting for the assist, he truly knows how to find the ball and score. Philip seems to have a natural elevation on the offensive side, and uses it to his advantage for defense as he rises up plenty of huge blocks. Alston filled the stat sheets at Cal U and ranked up plenty of player awards, so what does his impact look like for Loyola? From the film I have seen, he fits into a stretch 4 type of role very similar to the roles of departing seniors Aher Uguak and Chris Knight. Whatever the comparisons are, the bottom-line is that Philip Alston balled out this past year and I feel this addition to Loyola can help keep the Ramblers competing at the top of the A10 standings.
— Photo courtesy of Philip Alston’s twitter account. https://twitter.com/Phlick___/status/1512823078866276360
