Good Morning, Illini Nation: Playing faster? – The News-Gazette

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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:

There’s hardly been an offseason that’s passed in Champaign without some word out of Ubben Basketball Complex about the next Illinois team playing faster. Has it actually happened? Not always.

Last year’s Illini ranked 288th nationally in adjusted tempo, per Bart Torvik. Was Illinois quick into actions once it got into its halfcourt offense? Sure. Quick getting up and down the court? Not quite.

The 2024-25 Illini ranked highest in tempo, checking in at 17th nationally, but Underwood’s Illinois teams have run the gamut in that metric. Last year’s was the slowest, but for good reason.

Keaton Wagler dictated pace for Illinois in 2025-26. The freshman guard was at his best in a halfcourt setting, so that’s how the Illini played.

“Keaton was elite in ball screens,” Underwood said. “We were No. 1 in the country, he was, in points on ball screens. We figured that out pretty quick that he was very good at that.”

Now Wagler is plying his trade in the NBA after being selected with the fifth pick in the 2026 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Who runs the show in Champaign during the 2026-27 season could come in an initiator-by-committee approach with plenty of ball handlers on the roster between David Mirkovic (once he’s healthy), Andrej Stojakovic, Ethan Brown and Lincoln Williams all name-dropped by Underwood in addition to Quentin Coleman and Stefan Vaaks.

The goal with that group of “action guys” is to play faster. Will it happen? Consider that to be determined.

“I like to use the term position-less basketball,” Underwood said. “We’re going to be that for sure and not get pigeonholed into having to play a certain way. I think we want to play faster than we did last year. We’ve spent a lot of time on that as well.”