Five-star recruit Will Riley, who was originally slated to play for Illinois in the Class of 2025, changed his class to 2024 and signed his letter of intent on Sunday. In “the internet era,” Riley emerged as the Fighting Illini’s top recruit, according to a news release from Illinois. Riley was rated by 247Sports as the No. 9 overall talent, the No. 2 small forward, and the No. 12 overall in the service’s composite rankings.
Riley, a 6-foot-8 talent from Canada, was participating in the prep program at The Phelps School in Pennsylvania. This season, he is scoring 21.9 points per game on the Nike EYBL circuit. Illinois was his preference over Arizona, Alabama, and Kentucky. “We are thrilled to have Will Riley, a player of extraordinary skill, join our team. “He possesses all the offensive tools and is the epitome of a positionless basketball player,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said in a statement. Will gives us another action player who can make plays for himself and others depending on matchups, and he can score it at all three levels. He is talented, with excellent float and midrange ability, and a very high basketball IQ.
Riley, who reclassified to 2024, joins a roster that saw a large influx of transfers, including forwards Ben Humrichous (Evansville), Carey Booth (Notre Dame), and Jake Davis (Mercer), as well as guards Kylan Boswell (Arizona) and Tre White (Louisville). Underwood has added FC Barcelona guard Kasparas Jakucionis and center Tomsilav Ivisic, who has represented Croatia internationally.
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