Basketball

By Kedric Prince

April 1, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – IlliniGuys is where you need to be for Portal Kombat. My colleagues Brad Sturdy and Matt Stevens will work hard to keep you (Illini Nation) up to date with the most current news regarding Illinois athletics.

Let's get started with what I learned today in the transfer world.

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 30, 2025

(Cover photo courtesy Joe Clark/IlliniGuys)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Of all of the players who may opt to leave the Illinois basketball program this spring, the abrupt departure of Morez Johnson Jr. stings the most.

Illini Nation has been waiting since Christmas 2021 for the Chicago teen to arrive on campus. He committed during his sophomore season at St. Rita and continued to develop into an interior beast on both ends. Johnson was known for his athleticism and agility, playing with a passion that would land him as Illinois' Mr. Basketball last season.

Illinois head coach Shauna Green hopes her program can build off the first NCAA Tournament win in 25 years with an injection of youth and nationally-relevant talent ready to contribute immediately.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 31, 2025

CHAMPAIGN — The way Illinois head coach Shauna Green builds her basketball roster isn’t necessarily a champion of a ‘get old, stay old’ transfer portal era offseason theory of her sport.

With the second round loss to Texas in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, which followed the Illini’s first NCAA win in 25 years, Green and her staff knew an era of Illini women’s basketball was ending and a transition everybody in the Ubben Basketball Complex had been trying to push back as long as possible was coming.

March 31, 2025

It was a wild weekend for Illini Nation as fans across the globe withstood the shock of freshman power forward Morez Johnson Jr. entering the transfer portal.

Our sources tell us that Illinois upped its NIL offer significantly, but the Chicago native decided he can find a better fit - and perhaps a bigger bag - elsewhere.

Hence the world of Portal Kombat, where nothing is set in stone - even a player saying they want to return to the team next season - until the NIL contract is signed on the dotted line.

So...next up! IlliniGuys.com Insider/Analyst Brad Sturdy has an update on who the coaches are targeting for next season. Granted, recruiting is fluid and fast-moving, so this could be outdated next hour. So be sure to click the button above and sign up for IlliniGuys.com to get the most up-to-date recruiting news immediately inside our premium message boards!

Tre White’s time in an Illinois jersey has come to an end after just one season and 32 games of the 2024-25 season.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March xx, 2025

Tre White has officially become the first consistent member of the Illinois starting lineup from the 2024-25 season to enter the transfer portal. 

The 6-foot-7 wing has informed the Illini coaching staff his intentions to entered the transfer portal after playing 32 games of the previous season at Illinois that ended with a second round loss to Kentucky in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. White started 31 games this past season with the Illini while averaging 10.5 points per game, 5.5 rebounds per game while leading all consistent starters in field goal percentage (50.7) and free throw percentage (82.4) in 23.4 minutes per game. 

Mike Cagley, Co-Host Sports Spectacular March 29, 2025 Just […]

The one-year playing tenure of Morez Johnson, the 2024 Illinois Mr. Basketball selection, at the University of Illinois has ended as he has elected to enter the transfer portal.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 28, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Morez Johnson has entered the transfer portal after just one season at the University of Illinois.

The 6-foot-9 forward/center played in 30 games with eight starts in his first season of college basketball after signing with his home state program as four-star prospect in the 2024 recruiting class. Johnson averaged 7.1 points per game and was second on the team in rebounding at 6.7 per game on a team that advanced to the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament.

Johnson had five points and seven rebounds in the 84-75 loss to Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament second round game that ended the Illini’s 2024-25 season.

6-foot-10 forward Carey Booth’s one-year tenure at Illinois has […]

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 27, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Fighting Illini's head coaches, Brad Underwood of the men's basketball program and Bret Bielema of the football team, appear to be teaming up to land the state's top football recruit, Nasir Rankin. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound athlete, who stars as a wide receiver, is also one of Illinois' top five basketball prospects in his class.

March 27, 2025

The transfer portal continues to heat up.  We call it "Portal Kombat" as coaches battle to land the best talent within their NIL budgets. 

IlliniGuys Insider/Analyst Brad Sturdy has this update from recent conversations regarding the Illini program:

March 26, 2025

It has begun!

The transfer portal officially opened on Monday and coaches, players, parents, agents, handlers, reporters, etc. are burning up the phone and text lines as everyone scrambles to find their new homes, find players that fit their rosters, and gobble up their share of what feels like hundreds of millions of dollars on the table among the power conference programs.

Our insiders Kedric Prince and Brad Sturdy have been non-stop as well since Illinois' season ended Sunday night in Milwaukee. Kedric starts us off with this report filed earlier this morning on the IlliniGuys premium boards, starting off with a couple of surprising updates:

By Kedric Prince - IlliniGuys Director of Recruiting

March 25, 2025

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – As the NCAA transfer portal heats up, Illinois fans shouldn't forget about the talented freshmen joining the program next year: Brandon Lee and four-star recruit Keaton Wagler, a 6-foot-4, 175-pound shooting guard from Shawnee, Kansas.

Lee, a 6'5" shooting guard from Hillside, New Jersey, currently attends The Patrick School and arrives at Illinois with a scorer's mentality. We caught up with his father, Butch Lee, to get the latest on his son's journey.

Illinois forward Ben Humrichous has the possibility for a waiver to gain eligibility for the 2025-26 season but neither he nor Illinois coaches are currently being definitive in the future.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 24, 2025

(Editor's note - there have been reports that an NCAA waiver has already been submitted and approved. We are working to confirm those reports.)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A Vanderbilt quarterback has likely paved the way for Ben Humrichous to be eligible to play at least one more season of college basketball.

Only three questions remain: One, does the 6-foot-9 forward want to play another year of college basketball. Two, if he does want to play another year of college basketball, does Humrichous want to play that season at Illinois. Three, if he does want to play another year of college basketball at Illinois, do the Illini coaching staff want Humrichous to return to the 2025-26 roster.

By IlliniGuys Staff March 24, 2025 AUSTIN, Tx. - […]

In what was likely his last game at Illinois, Kasparus Jakucionis commits four first-half turnovers to dig Illini into early deficit in 84-75 loss to Kentucky in second round of NCAA Tournament.

By Matt Stevens - IlliniGuys Staff Writer

March 24, 2025

MILWAUKEE — If Sunday night marked the last time Kasparus Jakucionis takes off an Illinois jersey, he isn’t likely to have fond memories of the NCAA Tournament.

Following the 84-75 loss to Kentucky, the 18-year-old had plenty of self-awareness to know the major talking point of the evening and likely subsequent days would surround his six turnovers, four of which came in the first 10 minutes of the contest.

“I’m mad at myself that I let the team down today,” Jakučionis said while sitting in his post-game locker room stall inside Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. “We lost tonight because of turnovers and I’m the one that turned the ball over.”