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Northwestern's Chris Collins Offers High Praise for Illinois Basketball

"We got a little fortunate," Collins said after NU's overtime win Friday. "How good are those kids going to be?"
Steven Greenberg|
Dec 6, 2024; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Tomislav Ivisic (13) dunks the ball on Northwestern Wildcats center Matthew Nicholson (34) during the first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images
Dec 6, 2024; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Tomislav Ivisic (13) dunks the ball on Northwestern Wildcats center Matthew Nicholson (34) during the first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

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EVANSTON, Illinois – Northwestern coach Chris Collins has had to tangle with some impressive Illinois cores. Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn. Terrence Shannon Jr., Marcus Domask and Coleman Hawkins. Now, Kasparas Jakucionis, Tomislav Ivisic and Will Riley.

This one can be as good as the others, Collins believes. And maybe better.

"All those teams you mentioned were great, but this team is going to be great in its own right," Collins said Friday after his team held off the 19th-ranked Illini 70-66 in overtime at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

"They've got young guys, so they're going to get better. We got a little fortunate. That's their first Big Ten game. How good are [Jakucionis and Ivisic] going to be? This is their first Big Ten game on the road, and both of them almost got triple-doubles. So that should tell you how good those two guys are for young players."

Jakucionis scored 20, grabbed 10 rebounds and added seven assists. On a night when he was the only player on the Illini (6-2, 0-1 Big Ten) who could buy a three – he made six of them – the assist total was impressive. Ivisic had 15 points, 12 boards and five assists. Riley missed all six of his long-range tries.

All of them are in their first years at Illinois, and Jakucionis and Riley – hot 2025 NBA draft prospects – are only 18.

"I see a lot of guys on their team that are going to make a lot of money playing basketball, and not just NIL money," Collins said. "I'm talking about at the next level. KJ's an NBA point guard. Ivisic, he's a pro. Will Riley is going to be a pro. Kylan Boswell is a really good college player with a chance to be an NBA player.

"They've got good players, they've got talented players, they've got pro players. They're going to win a lot of games, and they're really well-coached and Brad [Underwood] is playing to their personnel perfectly. It's really hard to game-plan for their spacing and their shooting with their guard play."

More From Illinois on Sports Illustrated:

Illinois Basketball Gets Bodied in 70-66 Overtime Loss at Northwestern

Illinois Basketball's Next Shot to Upset an NCAA No. 1 – Tennessee – Is Coming Soon

Illini Kasparas Jakucionis, Will Riley Climb in Jonathan Wasserman's Mock Draft

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Steven Greenberg
STEVEN GREENBERG

Greenberg is a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, has written about college sports since the early 1990s. He covered University of Wisconsin football and basketball in the early 1990s before spending nearly 20 years as a magazine editor and writer. A former managing editor, features writer and college football columnist for The Sporting News, he has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Bleacher Report and joined the Sun-Times in 2013.

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