Welcome into the online inquire podcast.

It is Jeremy Warner, Derek Piper, live on our YouTube channel for our first post-game podcast of the year for Illinois

basketball. It's snuck up on us with a football team that has been a lot more relevant

through September and October and we'll see what happens here in November. But Illinois has to

make you feel good. The basketball team looked pretty talented as they destroy Eastern Illinois, 112 to 67.

And Derek, we were talking like, I don't know how much we're going to have to actually talk about on this podcast.

And then we get news before the game that Ty Rogers is redshirting, the second year in a row.

The Illinois basketball player who he thought would play a role, red shirts after Sincerer Harris does it last year, obviously he transfers. We'll talk about that. And then Dre Gibbs-Almore in a second straight, great performance for him, 21 points, the lone Aligni, who's returned from last year, who's going to play this year. What a performance for him in the first half with 18 points. But then Will Riley stole the show and showed why he's a five-star prospect with 26 of his 31 points in the second half showed why is a five-star, why is a potential one-and-done prospect, and showed that that's what they look like, Derek. So we're going to talk about all that, all the roles that these guys played. But let's start with Will Riley, right? 31 points in his debut, one of only six freshmen to score 31 or more points as a freshman. He does it in his debut, Derek. What a show. Yeah, a big-time show from him, shopmaking display, just a really talented bucket getter.

And that's exactly what I saw in Indianapolis back in the spring.

Brad Underwood and Orlando Antigua there as they really turned up the heat on that pursuit.

And that's exactly what it looked like, a guy that missed two shots in that game going for 40 plus. And just makes it look easy when he's in that zone where he can rise in fire.

He's six, nine, he can shoot over you and just from three pull up jumpers, all of that.

So he's a big time talent, obviously, and that's why ESPN has him as a projected first

round draft pick.

And great to see him find that rhythm on night one and come in with

that kind of confidence and be in that zone and I really thought, I know we're going to get into it.

The freshmen all around were spectacular with Merez, his blocks and rim protection, you know,

six blocks tonight. I know you had the stat that tie record or set a record for freshmen.

And then KJ with the playmaking,

I mean, the passing was really, really good tonight. And the no look early in the game was

phenomenal and just was really on point with feeding his teammates and getting things going. And

it was more crisp than it was at Ole Miss. But yeah, Will is someone that, you know, he's capable of that any given night in terms

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