Top-25 small forward Riley commits to Illinois

Top-25 recruit Will Riley has committed to Illinois and reclassified to the 2024 class, planning to enroll and suit up for the Fighting Illini next season.

He officially signed his letter of intent with the university Sunday.

“It’s exciting to add a supremely talented player in Will Riley to our program,” coach Brad Underwood said. “He is the consummate position-less basketball player who has all the tools offensively. Obviously, [Illinois assistant coach] Orlando [Antigua] was instrumental with his relationships and did an excellent job leading this recruitment. Will has the ability to score it at all three levels, and he gives us another action player who can make plays for others and himself based on matchups. He is skilled, has a great midrange and float game, and extremely high basketball IQ.”

A 6-foot-9 small forward from Canada who attended the Phelps School (Pennsylvania), Riley is ranked No. 24 in the ESPN 100 for the 2025 class. He has been one of the best scorers on the Nike EYBL circuit throughout the spring, averaging 21.9 points with UPlay.

Riley took visits to Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky and Alabama, but his relationship with Antigua — who had recruited Riley when he was on John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky — helped the Illini win out.

Underwood has dramatically reloaded Illinois following the departures of starters Terrence Shannon Jr., Marcus Domask, Coleman Hawkins and Quincy Guerrier from a team that went 29-9 and advanced to the Elite Eight. Riley is the latest offseason addition to a group that includes international recruits Tomislav Ivisic and Kasparas Jakucionis, as well as transfers Kylan Boswell (Arizona), Tre White (Louisville), Ben Humrichous (Evansville), Carey Booth (Notre Dame) and Jake Davis (Mercer).