Top 5 Illinois basketball recruiting targets for the class of 2025

2. Nik Khamenia

If there was one thing you could pull from this past season’s Illinois basketball team it is the fact that Brad Underwood wanted to play big. Our starting lineup featured no one shorter than 6-foot-6.

Nikolas Khamenia is exactly what the Illini want in a player. He is 6-foot-8, 215-pound forward from Harvard Westlake High School in California. Khamenia is rated as a four-star recruit and ranked as the No. 39 player in the class of 2025. He is also the No. 11 power forward in the country and the No. 5 player coming out of California.

Illinois has been in to watch Khamenia late in 2023. He also mentions the Illini in an article by Jamie Shaw of On3.com in the last few days.

Khamenia is the type of player that Underwood loves. He has an unstoppable motor on the defensive end of the court, and he is willing to run in transition.

I think the knowledge of the game is what impresses me most about Khamenia’s game. He understands spacing and doesn’t just stand around and clog the lanes. He is also smart about when to go and challenge shots.

Illinois will hopefully be in the conversation when Khamenia makes his final decision. He is a big-time frontcourt option for the Illini, and I think he would be great in Underwood’s scheme.