Malcolm Hill is an American professional basketball player for BC Astana of the Kazakhstan Championship and the VTB United League. Hill was a four–year starter for Illinois and finished his college career as the third all–time leading scorer in career points in Illinois basketball history.
High school career
Following his junior season in which he averaged 23.8 points and shot 44% from three-point range, Hill verbally committed to Illinois and former head coach Bruce Weber on September 12, 2011. Prior to verbally committing, Hill listed Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio State, Providence, UCLA, Xavier, and Wisconsin as the other schools he had considered. During his senior season, Hill broke his previous single season scoring mark he set during his junior season increasing his scoring total from 666 points to 708 total points. He averaged 25.3 points, 6.1 rebounds 2.3 steals and 1.9 blocks during his final year at Belleville, and also finished in third place for Mr. Illinois Basketball voting, finishing behind Simeon's Jabari Parker and Whitney Young's Jahlil Okafor. After head coach John Groce was hired on March 29, 2012, Hill reaffirmed his verbal commitment to Illinois, and officially signed his National Letter of Intent on November 14, 2012.
College career
Hill made his first start, along with fellow freshman Kendrick Nunn, for the Fighting Illini on February 9, 2014, against Penn State, scoring 11 points and helping the team end an 8-game losing streak. On January 7, 2015, Hill scored a career-high 28 points as a sophomore to lead the Fighting Illini to a win at home against 11th-ranked Maryland when Illinois' leading scorer Rayvonte Rice was sidelined with a broken hand. As a junior, Hill was named one of ten finalists for the 2016 Jerry West Award which is awarded by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the best collegiate shooting guard in the United States. In a double-overtime loss to Penn State at the end of the 2015–16 Big Ten Conference men's basketball season, Hill set another career high scoring 39 points. Hill's 39 points were the most since Brandon Paul scored 43 points against Ohio State in 2012 and the seventh most points scored by an Illini player in program history. Following his junior season, Hill became the only Illinois basketball player to record 600 points, 200 rebounds and 100 assists in a single season. On Nov. 13, 2016, Hill bested that career mark with 40 points in a 79-64 victory over Northern Kentucky. Following his senior season, Hill was invited to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, which is held annually in Portsmouth, Virginia to showcase college basketball's best seniors.
Hill joined House of 'Paign, a team comprised primarily of Illinois alumni in The Basketball Tournament 2020. He scored 14 points and had four rebounds in a 76-53 win over War Tampa in the first round.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Hill moved with his family to a nearby Metro East suburb Belleville, Illinois when he was four years old. Up until fifth grade, Hill also played soccer and baseball, but chose to focus on basketball. Hill's father, Malcolm, played NCAA Division II basketball for UMSL Tritons during the early 1990s. During the summer of 2012, Hill was diagnosed with Thoracic outlet syndrome, and underwent surgery to repair the blood clot in his upper right arm. Hill took several months to recover from the operation, however he made a full recovery.
