Who Has the Big-Shot Gene? Brad Underwood Weighs In on Illini Players

A team of ultra-skilled offensive newcomers gives Illinois options in crunch time

Brad Underwood addresses the media at Big Ten men's basketball media day in Rosemont, Illinois, on Thursday. | Jason Langendorf, Illinois Fighting Illini On Si

ROSEMONT, Illinois – To whom will Illinois coach Brad Underwood look when games are on the line this season?

The answers were easy in 2023-24, when Terrence Shannon Jr. motored the Illini to the Elite Eight with Marcus Domask as a big-time wingman. The ball found one or the other – or both – when the team needed a bucket.

So: the answer this time around?

“God dang,” Underwood said Thursday at the conference’s media day in suburban Chicago. “I don’t know if I know that.”

It’s something Underwood’s teams practice this time of year so he can see who has the big-shot gene and who, well, doesn’t.

“There’s a lot of guys you can throw it to,” he said, “but there’s not enough guys with a sack big enough to make them.”

Underwood came around on the topic, though, and listed five players he can already envision in a “closer” role. They are:

• Kasparas Jakucionis, a 6-6, do-it-all freshman from Lithuania

• Will Riley, a 6-8 freshman from Canada who was the school’s highest-rated recruit since Dee Brown

• Ben Humrichous, a 6-9, fifth-year transfer from Louisville who is said to be the team’s best shooter

• Tre White, a 6-7 junior who transferred from Louisville

• Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, a 6-1 sophomore guard

Underwood’s five on the floor in crunch time? Is it settled?

“Don’t put words in my mouth,” he said. “I gotta find out who can make them.”

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