Mar. 8—The State Farm Center crowd — namely the Orange Krush — chanted “One more year” at Illinois freshman Will Riley as he was interviewed on Fox following Friday night’s win against No. 18 Purdue.
Chants that were likely for naught given the way Riley played against the Boilermakers. And the way the 6-foot-8 freshman has played down the stretch of his first year in Champaign.
Some midseason struggles might have seen Riley drop in the mocks for the 2025 NBA Draft, but he’s made up for it in the last month. That includes Friday against Purdue where he scored a team-high 22 points to go with four assists and two rebounds. Not to mention a crucial late steal.
“Will Riley is just a tough matchup for anybody with his size and his skill level and his ability to make a three, to make a pull-up, to drive, to play a back down game when he gets somebody smaller on him,” Matt Painter said.
The Purdue coach was equally as impressed by Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis. The freshman guard finished Friday’s game with 10 points, seven assists and three rebounds. His biggest moment, though, was knocking down a go-ahead, stepback three-pointer with 40 seconds to play before the Illini finished off their 88-80 com-from-behind win.
“You don’t want to give him angles,” Painter said. “A lot of time with great players if you try to get them one way or the other you’re creating angles for them. … You want to take his space up to the best of your ability and not give him angles. He made that tough shot there at the end — he scored over us. That’s what you want him to do. It doesn’t mean he can’t make it. It just means it’s the lesser of all evils.”
