Good Morning, Illini Nation: The action guy

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Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:

Illinois coach Brad Underwood has mentioned having "action guys" a few times this offseason. Players that can make something happen with the ball in their hands. And the Illini have several.

But the way Underwood has also discussed Kasparas Jakucionis, it's clear the freshman guard might wind up the most action-y of Illinois' action guys in 2024-25. That Jakucionis got limited time in June playing with Kylan Boswell and zero time with Will Riley or Tomislav Ivisic was one thing Underwood lamented about his team's summer.

Jakucionis got that limited (or no) time because he got a chance to play for Lithuania in the FIBA U18 EuroBasket. The role he played for his home country wasn't exactly what he'll be asked to do for Illinois, but Underwood was still impressed with the 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard putting up 19.4 points, 5.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.

"He’s very, very gifted with the ball," Underwood said. "He played a little different with the national team. They didn’t do as much ball screening with him as he has done prior. They were a little more continuity offense. But I thought he impacted the game.

"He’s going to take what the game gives him. I think he’ll do that here. I’m just excited to see him with our guys and see what that looks like. He’s an ultimate playmaker. He’s a shot maker when he needs to be. We’ll be using him in some ball screens, and they didn’t do a ton of that in the U18s."