The future of the Illinois basketball team continues to get brighter by the day.
When you look at the Illini class of 2024, it is pretty impressive. Leading the way is five-star Will Riley who will be one of the best players on the team from the jump.
Illinois has many players next season who could be the go-to option on the court. There are plenty of incoming transfer portal players who will see a ton of minutes, and a fellow freshman coming into the program with Riley who continues to gain serious momentum is Kasparas Jakucionis.
The 6-foot-5 guard is coming to America from Lithuania where he has been impressive playing for his U18 national team. Over the past week or so, Jakucionis has been competing in the U18 EuroBasket tournament.
Lithuania didn’t play too well in this competition, as they settled for a fifth-place game on Sunday, but it wasn’t for a lack of talent on the part of Jakucionis.
Jakucionis put his full armory of talent on the court on Sunday. Lithuania came up 10 points short of France, but the future Illini guard still managed to lead all players with 37 points on 15-of-29 shooting from the field. He also had seven assists, four rebounds, and one steal.
Changes might need to be made to the projected Illinois basketball lineup for the 2024-25 season
When Riley committed to Illinois back in June, I published a projected Illinois basketball lineup. I had Kylan Boswell and Ty Rodgers starting in the backcourt with Tre White out on the wing. One of the first players off the bench was Jakucionis.
Despite the loss, Kasparas Jakučionis did it all for Lithuania today with 37 points, seven assists and four boards.
— Blake (@blakesilverman) August 4, 2024
Fun, high-level guard matchup between him and France’s Nolan Traoré#U18EuroBasket pic.twitter.com/3Di3FRMwbJ
Jakucionis’ great numbers against France aren’t anything new. He has been putting up great numbers the entire summer, and this is starting to make me lean more toward starting the talented freshman.
The only issue I had with Jakucionis was his turnovers, and he has proved, especially on Sunday, that he can control that issue. He had a 2.33:1 assist-to-turnover ratio against France. That is exactly where I want it to be.
As time goes on, Illinois’ roster strengthens. The talent from top to bottom on the 2024-25 squad is incredible.