The Illinois basketball program needs talent for 2026, and we moved one step closer to pulling in a big-time scorer.
Brad Underwood has done a good job adding a few solid pieces to the 2026 class, as the Illini have already landed Ethan Brown and Landon Davis. These two are three-star recruits who are both outside the top 150 nationally.
Illinois can’t survive on those two alone, so we are going to have to land some elite talent down the stretch of the class of 2026 to really be competitive at a national level. That is why the Jasiah Jervis recruitment is so crucial.
On Wednesday, Dushawn London of 247Sports reported that Jervis has decided to cut his recruitment down to just eight programs. The eight teams to make his top list included Texas, Tennessee, Florida, Pittsburgh, Michigan State, Oregon, North Carolina State, and Illinois.
NEWS: Jasiah Jervis, the No. 60 overall prospect in the class of 2026 and a summer stock riser, has narrowed his focus to 8 schools, @247Sports is told. @step_basketball @NYRhoops
— Dushawn London (@DushawnLondon1) August 20, 2025
Jervis has official visits locked to each of his finalists.
Story: https://t.co/rh0dt2qSHn pic.twitter.com/GHW9k2Kcdw
Jervis is one of the elite recruits in the country. He is a 6-foot-4, 190-pound shooting guard from Archbishop Stepinac High School in New York. Jervis is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 60 player in the class of 2026. He is also the No. 7 shooting guard in the country and the No. 4 player coming out of New York.
Scoring is a specialty when it comes to Illinois recruiting target Jasiah Jervis
Underwood had a lack of consistent scoring last season with the Illini. There were games that blew people away, but when we weren’t hitting shots, it was an ugly scene.
A player like Jervis can help erase those bad shooting nights. He is a primetime scorer who can take over games with his quickness and shooting ability from all levels on the court.
Jervis suited up for the New York Ren this summer in the EYBL. In eight games, he managed to average 17 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game. He also shot 33.3%, which would have been one of the highest shooting percentages on the Illini this past season.
It will be interesting to see where Illinois ends up when it all shakes out. The fact that Jervis doesn’t have a northeast school is a bit shocking. That leaves the door wide open for the Illini. NIL dollars are mostly focused on basketball, so let’s go get us a top 70 recruit for 2026.