Meet the Illinois basketball freshmen duo who are already potential first-round NBA picks

The 2024-25 college basketball season has officially kicked off, and there have already been changes inside the AP Top 25, as teams have worked their way through some tough non-conference competition to begin the year.

The 2024 freshman class has been especially impressive to begin the year, as this group is quickly looking like one of the deeper classes in recent history, with talent spread across the board.

When it comes to 1-2 punches, there haven’t been many more impressive freshman duos to start the year than Illinois’ Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, who have put together strong performances in their own way as the Fighting Illinois have climbed to a quick 3-0 lead.

Jakucionis, the team’s starting point guard, has led the team in minutes and is averaging 9 points per game to go with a team-high 7.7 assists, quickly emerging as one of the best passers not only on his own squad, but in all of college basketball.

The 6’6”, 200-pound freshman possesses a unique skillset for his frame, as he’s been assertive through three games, looking to create for his teammates, while hunting for his own shot when needed, be it attacking the rim or from behind the arc.

There have of course been early bumps in the road, as expected for a freshman, as Jakucionis has averaged 3.3 turnovers per contest, but it’s a good sign for the Fighting Illini that their Lithuanian freshman has come along as quickly as he has, as the team undergoes a significant transition.

“He’s mature.” head coach Underwood said about his point guard. “He’s smart. He plays to win. He doesn’t play for a stat line. He just provides what the game gives him.

“It just doesn’t matter what the game needs. He’s got a maturity about him with that.”

Then comes forward Will Riley, a five-star recruit in the Class of 2024, who exploded in his first game of the season with 31 points on 10 of 13 shooting, hitting 5 of 6 of his threes in a monster offensive performance over Eastern Illinois.

“He’s just got a gift,” Underwood said about his talented freshman. “When he gets one or two going, it’s so many ways. He got to the foul line, he was offensive rebounding, it was fifteen-footers, it was threes off the dribble; it’s a little bit of everything. He’s not just ‘Hey we’re going to do this one thing and stop it,’ he’s got a pretty full package.”

Riley hasn’t been as electric in the two games after, scoring 14 and 8 points, respectively, but he still leads Illinois, averaging 17.7 points, while shooting 51.5 percent from the field and 69.2 percent from deep.

Illinois had to replace a number of key players from last year’s team, as Terrence Shannon Jr., Coleman Hawkins, and Marcus Domask all departed, alongside a number of role players, leading the team to go out and get some talent via the transfer portal.

That led them to add five players from the transfer portal, but it has been the freshmen who have thoroughly impressed early on, with Riley being their top scorer and Jakucionis being their top facilitator.

As Illinois looks to maintain its stance as a top power in the Big Ten, it’ll look to rely on its talented freshman duo to lead the way, both through the good and the bad as the season goes along.