Illinois lands four-star guard Brandon Lee

CHAMPAIGN — The Illinois men’s basketball program is now 2 for 2 on securing verbal commitments after official visits this month.

Exactly one week after Class of 2025 guard Keaton Wagler chose the Illini following a weekend trip to Champaign, fellow 2025 guard Brandon Lee did the same early Wednesday evening with a commitment of his own to Brad Underwood’s program.

Lee and Wagler have similar recruiting profiles.

Both are four-star prospects in the Class of 2025.

Both are ranked in the top 150 of players nationally in their class. And both could make a case they were under-recruited.

Wagler’s only other high-major offer beyond Illinois was Minnesota. Lee picked up his second high-major offer last week from Seton Hall, whose coach, Shaheen Holloway, coached his older brother at St. Peter’s.

Lee, though, is a near-consensus four-star recruit despite the rest of his list of offers including the likes of George Washington, Duquesne, High Point, Rhode Island, Missouri State and NJIT. Rivals, 247Sports and ESPN all consider him at that four-star level, and Lee is ranked as high as No. 73 overall in the Class of 2025 by Rivals.

Lee plays at The Patrick School (N.J.), but he made a name for himself this summer on the Nike EYBL circuit playing for NY Renaissance.

The 6-foot-4, 185-pound guard was one of the top scorers on the circuit in the spring, ranking third at 22.8 points per game behind only Cameron Boozer — the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2025 class — and Darius Acuff Jr.

The summer follow-up to Lee’s strong spring for NY Renaissance included averaging 18.8 points at Peach Jam and another stint playing for Puerto Rico’s junior national team at the FIBA U18 AmeriCup. It was his third time playing for Puerto Rico internationally.

That’s where Lee’s connection to Illinois originates.

His dad, Butch, was the first Puerto Rican to play in the NBA. The elder Lee played for Marquette and won a national title in 1977 before becoming a first-round pick of the Atlanta Hawks. He won an NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1980. Both Butch Lee and Illinois associate head coach Orlando Antigua are from the Bronx, N.Y., and their careers have overlapped in Puerto Rico as players/coaches.