Eastern Illinois men's basketball head coach
Jay Spoonhour has added to the Panthers 2020-21 roster as the NCAA's National Signing Day opened last week. Set to join EIU next season is junior college guard Ryan Leonard. The Panthers return their top seven scorers from a team that went 17-15.
Leonard (6-4, 200) is a tall guard with international experience having played for the Ireland National Team as a member of their U16, U18 and U20 teams. Last season he played at Santa Fe College averaging 12.2 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. He had 17 double figure scoring games while shooting 39 percent from 3-point range. He was a Mid-Florida Conference Scholar-Athlete selection. Leonard, who is from Kerry, played at the Tralee School in Ireland earning Super League Young Player of the Year honors in 2017. He then played as a post-graduate student for one season at The Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.
"Ryan has had a ton of experience. Since he was a very young guy, he has played for his national team in Ireland against some very good players.," said Spoonhour. "He was the leading scorer on his Santa Fe team and is an outstanding shooter. At 6'4 he gives us another guard with real good size and an ability to make point guard plays. He's got a really high basketball IQ and comes from a good basketball background-his dad Ricardo was a great player at Old Dominion."
