Illinois Basketball: 5 options for the Illini in the transfer portal 2.0

5. Antonio Reeves

Sometimes you don’t have to look too far down the road to find a great transfer who could help the Illinois basketball team. The transfer I am talking about is Antonio Reeves.

Reeves was not a highly-touted recruit coming out of Simeon High School in Chicago. He wasn’t rated or ranked by 247Sports, but he did have an unofficial visit to Champaign. Reeves would ultimately pick Illinois State as his landing spot in college.

While with the Redbirds, Reeves flourished. He averaged 7.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game as a freshman, and this past season, he averaged 20.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.

Reeves has the game to play at the highest level in college basketball, and that has to be one of the reasons he is transferring. He needs to be on a bigger stage. Illinois could give him that stage.

The Illini are reported to have been in contact with Reeves. It would make sense for him to stay close to home while being able to play in the Big Ten. He would give Illinois so much talent on the wing. I also love the fact he took 5.9 three-pointers per game this past season and hit them at a clip of 39%.

I see Reeves coming in and starting at the No. 3 spot for Illinois. He would fit well on the wing and would give Brad Underwood a lot of flexibility to move players around. This would be a big transfer snag for the Orange and Blue.