Minnesota faces former recruit Keaton Wagler, No. 13 Illinois

During each broadcast of an Illinois game, it only takes a few minutes before the announcers start raving about freshman point guard Keaton Wagler and how amazing it was he only had two high-major offers: Illinois and Minnesota.

Considering the No. 13 Fighting Illini (14-3, 5-1 Big Ten) face the Golden Gophers (10-7, 3-3) on Saturday in Champaign, Ill., Wagler's recruitment figures to be the first order of business on this broadcast.

Regarded by 247 Sports as the nation's No. 150 recruit in the Class of 2025, the 6-foot-6 freshman point guard has developed so rapidly that KenPom.com ranks him as the fourth-best player in the Big Ten behind All-Americans Braden Smith (Purdue) and Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan) and former Illinois big man Morez Johnson Jr. (Michigan).

After suffering back spasms before Wednesday's 79-68 win at Northwestern, Wagler poured in 20 of his team-high 22 points in the second half.

"Nothing fazes him," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. "I asked him at halftime, ‘Are you alright?' He goes, ‘Yeah, I'll be good. I'm just a little bothered.' And he goes and shrugs it off. I said, ‘Can you go?' ‘Oh, yeah.' He's just so nonchalant and casual about it. It's just what that young man does. It's truly what he does.

"We've come to not take it for granted, but we've come to expect those kind of performances."

Case in point: In Illinois' previous game, Wagler delivered 16 of his 19 points after halftime to help his squad earn a 75-69 win at Iowa.

He leads Illinois with 16.1 points and 3.7 assists per game while ranking second in rebounding (5.2) and shooting 46.2% from the field, 41.4% on 3-point attempts and 83.7% at the line. Again, not bad for the 150th-ranked recruit in the country.

To be fair, Wagler benefits (and enhances) Illinois' balanced offense. Kylan Boswell (14.6 ppg), Andrej Stojakovic (13.9 ppg), David Mirkovic (12.0 ppg) and Tomislav Ivisic (10.5 ppg) each create space in multiple ways.

As for Minnesota, it's fair to say Niko Medved's squad could benefit from Wagler's presence, though Wagler made his college decision in September 2024 when Ben Johnson still was in charge of the Golden Gophers.

Minnesota lost starting point guard Chansey Willis for the season when he broke his foot on Thanksgiving against Stanford, yet Medved's quick-passing, ball-moving offense has somehow become even better.

The Gophers lead the nation in assists per field goals made at 75.5%, amplifying a trend Medved established at his previous stops (Colorado State, Drake and Furman).

Between their equal-opportunity offense -- senior forward Cade Tyson (21.1 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 39.3% 3-point accuracy) leads four Gophers in double figures -- and their stingy defense (66.8 points allowed per game), Minnesota has become a Big Ten factor sooner than anticipated.

The Gophers won five straight before dropping two heartbreakers at home, a 70-69 overtime loss to Southern California and a 78-75 loss Tuesday to Wisconsin. In the latter game, the Gophers led by 11 early in the second half before falling on John Blackwell's buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

"I struggle with moral victories," Medved said. "That's not what we're here for. I thought this game was here for us to win. The last two were. We just didn't get the job done.

"Having said that, (our players) are giving us everything they have. They're playing really, really hard. They're playing connected. They're fighting like crazy. They're giving themselves a chance to win these games."

--Field Level Media