Illinois Basketball: Illini targeting breakout recruit in EYBL session 1

Illinois basketball is now pursuing one of the most underrated players coming out of high school.

Sometimes it takes a minute for players to get noticed. There are so many talented high schoolers out there, that a player can get lost in the shuffle sometimes. The Illini are now pursuing one of those players in Mikey Lewis.

Lewis is a 6-foot-3, 170-pound guard out of Accelerated Schools in Colorado. He is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 112 player in the class of 2024. He is also the No. 15 point guard in the country and the No. 2 player coming out of Colorado.

On Saturday, Lewis took to social media to announce that he had received a scholarship offer from Illinois. The Illini join a handful of other programs to show interest in the talented guard.

Illinois basketball offered Mikey Lewis a scholarship after a big AAU weekend

The Illini are one of the few major programs to take an interest in Lewis. Most of his other scholarship offers have been from mid-major teams, but after a huge weekend in Atlanta, Lewis should be expecting more recruiting attention very soon.

Lewis laced up for the Oakland Soldiers in Atlanta for the Nike EYBL AAU league session one. While the team didn’t fare too well, going 1-3 in the four games, Lewis showed out and displayed his talents for the world to see.

By the time the weekend had concluded, Lewis averaged 25.3 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in the four contests. His 25.3 points led the entire EYBL. What stood out to me the most was his three-point shooting. Lewis would go 14-of-26, 53.8%, from beyond the three-point arc. That is an insane number. Usually, AAU kids are chucking up three-pointers and hitting them at a clip lower than 30%.

Lewis was 49.2% from the field, 53.8% from three-point range, and 79.4% from the charity stripe, all of which are great numbers. I also love the fact he had 13 assists to just four turnovers. That is one of the most efficient weekends I have ever seen in AAU basketball.

Illinois getting in on the Lewis recruitment is smart. He is going to have some of the biggest programs coming after him soon. Look for this kid’s recruitment to really start blowing up in the coming weeks.