Ole Miss adds depth in backcourt with addition of Illya Tyrtyshnik

The Ole Miss backcourt just got a little deeper Monday morning with the addition of top European guard Illya Tyrtyshnik, head coach Andy Kennedy announced Monday.

Tyrtyshnik, a 6-foot-3 combo guard, is a native of Kiev, Ukraine, and will join the Rebels for the 2017-18 season.

Tyrtyshnik, a 6-foot-3 combo guard, is a native of Kiev, Ukraine, and will join the Rebels for the 2017-18 season. He just finished a season playing for GBA Prague, a prep school in the Czech Republic, which was coached by former Butler Basketball player Julian Betko.

Tyrtyshnik is rated one of the top guard prospects in the 2017 class by Eurohopes Scouting Service.

His numbers from the U-18 European Championship last summer in Skopje, Macedonia made him stand out as he averaged 14.6 points, 3.7 assists, and 3.6 rebounds a game to lead his hometown to a second place finish. His best performance came against Slovakia, when he scored 19 points, dished out seven assists, and grabbed three rebounds.

“We are excited to have Illya join our program,” Kennedy said. “He is a big, versatile lead guard, who will help our backcourt in a variety of ways. The experience he has garnered in numerous international competitions should aid him in his transition to SEC Basketball.”

This summer, Trytyshnik will compete with the U-20 Ukraine National Team in Greece at the European Championships before coming to the United States in August.

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Adding Trytyshnik helped bolster Ole Miss’ 2017 class, which currently ranks No. 16 in the country according to 247Sports. He will join graduate transfer Markel Crawford, junior college post player Bruce Stevens, shooting guard Devonte Shuler, and small forward Jamarko Pickett. Crawford spent three seasons at Memphis, finishing second on the team in scoring last season (12.8 ppg) and led the Tigers with 42 3-pointers, while shooting 47.8 percent from the field.

Stevens, who’s rated as the No. 1 junior college player in the country by 247Sports, averaged 16.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game last season at Jones County Junior College. Both Shuler and Pickett are coming out of high school and are rated inside the top 100 and are four-star prospects in the latest release of the Scout.com ranking. Shuler is rated No. 57 overall, while Pickett checked in at No. 99.

Trytyshnik joins the Rebels the same day ESPN announced Ole Miss granted three-star shooting guard Parker Stewart a release from the program. With the addition of Trytyshnik, Kennedy, now, has a total of five guards (Trytyshnik, Shuler, Crawford, Breein Tyree, and Deandre Burnett) to rotate in and out of his lineup.

(Photo credit: Josh McCoy, Ole Miss Athletics)