Former Illinois men's basketball standout Will Riley is expected to go somewhere in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft on Wednesday night and when he does, he will have taken a global route to get there.
Originally from Canada, Riley was a consensus five-star recruit when he committed to Brad Underwood and the Illini out of high school. Though Champaign isn't exactly an exotic location, he joined an Illinois basketball team loaded with European talent, and as he told Andy Katz in the lead-up to the draft, he feels it's given him an advantage.
“The fundamentals, you’re just taught that from such a young age,” he said of growing up in Canada. “You’re taught basic things like footwork, like just pivoting and stuff like that.”
Riley took those fundamentals to Illinois where he started nine games in his lone season, averaging 12.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He played alongside a pair of European-born players and, as he explained, learned a lot from them as well.
Article Continues Below“I feel like it helped me with a lot of things. You learn different things from different places,” he said. “Playing with European guys is amazing, they teach you so much different stuff, not just in basketball but outside of basketball.”
Though Riley has worked out for teams everywhere from mid- to late-first round, ClutchPoints' Brett Siegel has hime going No. 21 overall to the Utah Jazz.
“Will Riley offers versatility as a shooter and scorer who can play either the shooting guard or small forward positions,” Siegel wrote. “The Jazz have plenty of time to spend developing their players, and Riley would benefit from being in such a system since he needs experience as a shooter on and off the ball.”
Wherever he goes, Riley has received a green room invite and will be on-hand at Barclays Center when his name is called.
