Illinois freshman guard Keaton Wagler is among the best players at his position in the entire country.
This college basketball season has featured one of the best freshman classes in the sport’s history with stars showing out on a nightly basis across the country. Wagler is right up there with the rest of them, especially after pouring 46 points on Purdue in Mackey Arena.
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He averages 18.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game while leading the nation’s most efficient offense, per KenPom. On top of all this, he was ranked outside the top-100 by both 247Sports and Rivals/On3. Illinois found a gem.
Indiana head coach Darian DeVries was asked about Wagler on Friday ahead of the Hoosiers’ matchup against the Fighting Illini on Sunday in Champaign. He heaped praise on the freshman.
“He’s tough,” DeVries said. “They do such a good job of putting you in situations where you’ve gotta choose if you wanna switch or if you wanna commit to the ball and then he makes the right decision.”
Part of what makes Wagler such a difficult cover is Illinois’ shooting outside of him, DeVries said. The Illini rank 8th nationally in 3PA/FGA and convert on 36.1% of those attempts. If you put two defenders on Wagler, he’s likely to find the open man.
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DeVries went on to detail Wagler’s ability to drive past opposing defenders. His frame is a bit wiry but at 6’6” he’s a tough matchup all around. Finally, DeVries compared Wagler’s volume shooting ability to that of Indiana’s Lamar Wilkerson.
“When he does get the switch, he’ll shoot it from anywhere, so you have to be so close and then if you’re too close he’s going by you and making the right play a lot of the time,” DeVries said. “He has that ability, a little bit like Lamar, where he can get ‘em in a hurry. So, yeah, I think you’ve gotta try to do as best a job as you can, make sure he’s got your focus all the time and not let him get started cause once he does he’s really difficult to bring back.”
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