Starting forward Race Thompson is the latest IU basketball player to announce his return to play for new head coach Mike Woodson.
The 6-foot-8 redshirt junior broke the news on Thursday morning.
“After talking it over with my family, I’m happy to announce I’m coming back to Indiana,” Thompson wrote in a graphic on his Instagram account. “I’m excited for Coach Woodson and the future of the program.”
Thompson averaged 9.1 points and 6.2 rebounds in 2020-21, both career highs. He added 1.4 assists, 1.3 blocks and 1 steal per game. Thompson started all 27 games, the first starts of his career, and averaged 28.2 minutes per contest. The Minnesota native arrived in Bloomington in 2017 and took a redshirt season. He lost most of the 2018 season due to a concussion before emerging as a key contributor in 2019.
Known for his toughness and physical style, Thompson played through the latter portion of his redshirt junior season with an injury to his nose. He was the first player to commit to play for Archie Miller after he was hired by Indiana in 2017.
Thompson joins Parker Stewart, Khristian Lander and Jordan Geronimo as IU players who put their names in the transfer portal and then later decided to return to play for Woodson. Trayce Jackson-Davis decided to delay his professional career and return for a third season in Bloomington. The Hoosiers added Pittsburgh transfer guard Xavier Johnson on Wednesday.
Indiana still awaits the decision of a fifth player in the portal, sophomore guard Armaan Franklin. In a widely expected move, senior guard Al Durham decided to leave Indiana and will play a fifth season at Providence.
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