Eylijah Stephens will play his final year of college basketball at Minnesota. The guard played four years at Lafayette, but will now wear the Minnesota Maroon and Gold to end his collegiate career.

Stephens, who is originally from Florida, improved every year at Lafayette where he ended his four-year run playing in 103 games and averaging 9.9 points.

"Elijah is the kind of player that I love," said head coach Ben Johnson. "He is an old soul and is a player who truly loves and respects the game. He has a tremendous basketball IQ and is excited to challenge himself against Big Ten competition. Elijah has played more than 100 college games and is continually striving to better himself. He was an extremely productive player at Lafayette and was one of the top scorers in the Patriot league last season. Our fans will appreciate his dedication to the team and the way he plays the game."

Stephens started 32 of the 103 games he played in at Lafayette and scored 1,017 points (9.9 average) and grabbed 307 rebounds (3.0 rebounds per game). He finished his senior season seventh in the Patriot league in scoring (16.4), tenth in assists (2.5), second in free throw percentage (90.4%), tied for seventh in steals (1.5), eighth in assist to turnover ratio (1.2), 12th in defensive rebounds (4.5) and tenth in minutes played (32.4).

He started seven of 31 games as a junior and averaged 12.1 points per game after averaging 7.1 points in 27 games as a sophomore. He started three of 30 games as a freshman and averaged 6.8 points.

He played four years of high school basketball at Saint Thomas Aquinas and led the team in scoring as a senior with 20.0 points per game.