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Welcome to Good Morning, Illini Nation, your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini sportswriter and AP Top 25 pick Scott Richey. Each morning he shares insight on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball in general:

Illinois coach Brad Underwood has mentioned several times during the offseason that he has “action guys” – players who can make a difference with the ball in their hands. And the Illini have several of them.

But the way Underwood has also talked about Kasparas Jakucionis makes it clear that the freshman guard could be the most action-packed of Illinois’ action players in 2024-25. That Jakucionis had little time with Kylan Boswell in June and no time at all 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 the chance to play for Lithuania at the FIBA ​​U18 EuroBasket. The role he played for his home country wasn’t exactly the one he was expected to fill for Illinois, but Underwood was still impressed with the 6-foot-6, 200-pound guard, who averaged 19.4 points, 5.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.

“He’s very, very talented with the ball,” Underwood said. “He played a little differently with the national team. They didn’t shield the ball as much as they had before. They showed a little more continuity on offense. But I think he influenced the game.”

“He’s going to take what the game gives him. I think that’s what he’s going to do 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 it counts. We’re going to use him in some ball screens and they didn’t do a lot of that in the U18s.”