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Illinois State forward suspended indefinitely after being sent home from team’s trip to Spain

deontae hawkins

Deontae Hawkins (Getty Images)

Dilip Vishwanat

Illinois State is trying to build on last season’s NIT appearance and 22-win season and recently they embarked on a 10-day trip to Spain to play in four exhibition games. The Redbirds returned from that trip with a 3-1 record but the team also had to send home sophomore forward Deontae Hawkins, a source confirmed to NBCSports.com.

The 6-foot-8 Hawkins missed the final two games of the team’s trip as he was sent home to Dayton. According to Jim Benson of the Bloomington Pantagraph, Hawkins started fall semester classes on campus with his teammates on Monday, but he remains suspended. Having Hawkins back on campus after being sent home is a good sign that he will return to the team at some point.

It’s hard to say what Hawkins did to get sent home, but Illinois State could really use him this season as he was a key player down the stretch last season. During his freshman year, Hawkins played 22.4 minutes per game and averaged 7.4 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. He started nine of the team’s final 11 games during the 2014-15 season.