The Illinois basketball team might have another option in the class of 2018.
On Thursday morning, Lukas Kisunas decommitted from UConn and is now available on the market for 2018. He is a 6-foot-10, 256-pound center from Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. He is rated as a three-star recruit who is the No. 143 player in the class of 2018 and the No. 8 center in the nation.
I’ve decided to de-commit from UConn and pursue other opportunities for my academic and athletic career. pic.twitter.com/q4T4xkvoOy
— Lukas Kišūnas (@LKisunas) March 29, 2018
There were a few teams who were heavy on Kisunas over the last few years. UConn was one of those teams, but so was Illinois. The Huskies offered Kisunas back in September 2017 and they visited him the same day. The Illini came in a day later and visited him as well.
Illinois also received an official visit from Kisunas back in 2017 as well. But, during the early signing period, Kisunas decided to end his recruitment and committed to UConn. He ended up signing with them a week later.
UConn has gone through some changes since then, though. They didn’t have a good season and fired head coach Kevin Ollie. With the changing of a head coach come decommitments and that is what happened with Kisunas.
During his time with Brewster Academy, Kisunas was successful. He averaged 9.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game his senior season. There is also a lot to love about his game that would fit in perfectly with the Illini as well.
Kisunas is a fairly polished post player. He can run the pick-and-roll perfectly and when he gets the ball down low, he can finish at the rim or he has nice touch within 10 feet of the basket. Illinois could really use a player like this.
I haven’t heard reports of Illinois being back in the race for Kisunas but if they are, I think he would have a legit shot at starting at the No. 5 this season. He would run the pick-and-roll with either Ayo Dosunmu or Trent Frazier. It would be a thing of beauty.
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Kisunas would give the Illini a big man who is polished and can rebound. That is what they are missing right now. This would be a great marriage.