Clemson basketball made their first move of the 2024 offseason following a great postseason campaign on Wednesday morning, picking up center Viktor Lakhin through the transfer portal to fill a spot at the front court position. The report was first announced by Joe Tipton at On3 Sports.
Lakhin has played the last three seasons with the Cincinnati Bearcats in the Big 12 and AAC, averaging 9.2 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.7 blocks last season.
While the transition to the Big 12 was an adjustment for the rising redshirt senior, Lakhin had a great redshirt sophomore campaign as well while playing in the American Athletic Conference. The center averaged 11.6 points per game and added 7.1 rebounds.
With the departures of key frontcourt players like PJ Hall and RJ Godfrey, the addition of Lakhin will guarantee quality minutes next season for Clemson, who hope to use the Anapa, Russia, native as a rim protector that can continue the dominance at the rim.
Lakhin is ranked the No. 62 overall player in the transfer portal as of April 17, according to the On3 Transfer Portal Rankings.
The center was predicted to join the Tigers as early as last week, with Providence being the only other school to compete for him. After Lakhin finished his official visit to the Upstate on Tuesday, it only took a day for him to decide on playing his senior season at Littlejohn Coliseum.
Standing 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds, head coach Brad Brownell will hope the Lakhin is the first of many players that they will use the transfer portal for, with hopes to get back to the NCAA Tournament a goal for the Tigers’ head coach.
