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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:
Lucas Morillo was on few college basketball radars as an unranked prospect in the Class of 2025 with a handful of offers mostly at the mid-major level.
Then Morillo reclassified backward into the Class of 2026 — with a late October birthday where that made sense — and transferred from Iona Preparatory (N.Y.) to The Newman School (Mass.). A decision that changed everything about the 6-foot-7 guard’s basketball future.
Morillo starred for The Newman School, leading the team to a program record 31 wins and a New England Preparatory School athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class AAA championship. He was the tournament MVP and was also New England Basketball Journal’s inaugural NEPSAC Class AAA Player of the Year after averaging 16 points, 9.2 rebounds and five assists.
Then came a solid run with City Rocks on the Nike EYBL circuit where Morillo put up 15.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game before he took his talents worldwide. Representing the Dominican Republic at the FIBA U19 World Cup, Morillo averaged 20 points, nine rebounds and 4.3 assists.
Interest in Morillo now is much higher, and Illinois, Marquette, Minnesota, Texas, UCLA and Virginia made the cut as his six finalists. The four-star guard, who is ranked as high as No. 32 overall in the Class of 2026 by On3, spent this past weekend in Champaign following previous official visits to Marquette and Minnesota.
Morillo spent this past weekend in Champaign, having already taken official visits to Marquette and Minnesota. He’s scheduled to visit Texas this weekend and UCLA the week after.
“I would say I proved that I’m an all-around player,” Morillo said about what he’s accomplished in the last year. “I think I’m the best player. I feel like, over this past year, I’ve gotten a lot of confidence in myself. I’ve improved my shooting. I think I’ve improved in a lot of areas to prove I can be a point guard and also I can play on the wing and off the ball.”
Morillo’s standout play in the FIBA U19 World Cup marked his fourth time representing the Dominican Republic internationally in two years after also playing in the 2023 FIBA U16 Americas Championship, 2023 FIBA Centrobasket U17 Championship and 2024 FIBA U18 Americas Championship.
What Morillo showed in Lausanne, Switzerland, this summer, though, was his best effort of the bunch. While the Dominican Republic finished 15th out of 16 teams, Morillo finished second in scoring — behind Northwestern freshman Tyler Kropp, who played for Argentina — and seventh in rebounding. He was one of three guards among the top 10 rebounders along with New Zealand’s Hayden Jones (a Wisconsin commit) and Israel’s Rany Belaga, who finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
“The Dominican Republic is not known to play really well in the World Cup, but just getting there is a big accomplishment for the D.R.,” Morillo said. “I learned a lot. I learned I can compete with the best of the best. Those were the best players across the world. Playing against the best of the best under-19 was great. I learned more about where I stand.”
Morillo left Champaign with a favorable impression of how he might fit in Illinois’ system. The recent success of other bigger guards — Ayo Dosunmu, Terrence Shannon Jr., Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley — was a selling point. So was what Morillo saw on the court from the current team during Saturday’s practice.
“I loved seeing them compete and go up and down,” Morillo said, while emphasizing the intensity, coaching and overall practice environment. “It was great to watch and learn more about them. The style of play, I think it could be a great fit. … I would say I’m a combo guard. I could play 1-4, I feel like. Being a playmaker, I feel like I can play the 1. With my size, I can play the wing.”