The countdown is finished, and there’s basketball to follow well beyond Champaign. Before opening night, let’s catch up with the Illini in the NBA preseason, then check in with Trent Frazier overseas. There’s an October 18 history stop in Phoenix, too.
The NBA preseason check-in
Keaton Wagler has already supplied the Clippers with a finish worth watching again. Against Golden State on October 4, he scored nine of his fifteen points in the fourth quarter, then hit a stepback with 12.8 seconds left in a 104–101 win. A rookie getting the ball late and doing that with it is a pretty good introduction.
Wagler’s October 14 start against Denver produced twelve points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Ayo Dosunmu and Terrence Shannon Jr. give Illinois fans two reasons to follow Minnesota. Ayo had ten points in 24 minutes against Detroit on October 14. Shannon’s standout afternoon came against Miami on October 10: nineteen points, six rebounds, and four assists, including three made threes. That’s a useful reminder that there’s more to his offense than getting downhill.
Kasparas Jakučionis scored eighteen against Chicago on October 14, with six assists and perfect 11-for-11 foul shooting. Two nights later, he helped finish a 128–127 overtime win over Indiana. He scored or assisted on Milwaukee’s last three baskets. Getting a young guard those late-game possessions is one of the more interesting parts of preseason. Check out the video above starting around the 1:40 mark.
Washington’s Will Riley scored fifteen against Detroit on October 10, then eleven in eleven minutes against New Orleans on Friday.
Brandin Podziemski is another former Illini to keep in the mix. He scored seventeen points for Golden State in Friday’s 128–118 win over Portland.
And like it or not, I’ll mention Morez Johnson every once and a while; he grabbed seven rebounds for Dallas against Atlanta on October 16.
This Day in Illni History - October 18
1968 - The Phoenix Suns played the first regular-season game in franchise history, beating the Seattle SuperSonics 116–107 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. There were 7,112 people there to see it.
Two former Illini had a pretty big hand in getting that night off the ground. Jerry Colangelo was the Suns’ first general manager. Johnny “Red” Kerr was their first head coach.
Colangelo was only 28 when he got the job. Six years earlier, he’d been Illinois’ team captain. Now he was building an NBA team, and one of his early moves was hiring another Illinois guy to coach it.
Kerr had helped Illinois reach the 1952 Final Four and finished his college career in 1954 as the school’s all-time leading scorer. By the time Phoenix opened for business, he’d already been an NBA player and coached the expansion Chicago Bulls.
It’s a fun little Illinois connection to the start of somebody else’s basketball history. A former Illini building the roster, another running the bench, and a brand-new franchise getting its first win.
Phoenix finished that first season 16–66, so there were some long nights coming. October 18 was a pretty good first one.
Illini Around the World
Trent Frazier is wearing No. 1 in Bologna now. Check out some of his highlights in the video above.
Virtus Bologna signed him to a one-year deal on July 22. His professional route has taken him from FMP in Serbia to Zenit St. Petersburg and now to Italy, where Virtus plays in Serie A and the EuroLeague.
At Zenit last season, he averaged 13.8 points and 5.8 assists in VTB League play. The scoring is familiar, but nearly six assists a game is a nice reminder of how much responsibility he’s taken on since leaving Champaign.
His Illinois career gives us plenty to remember: 1,794 points, 310 made threes, and 138 starts over five seasons. That’s a whole lot of evenings with Trent on the floor. He finished his final season as a second-team All-Big Ten selection and a member of the conference’s All-Defensive Team.
Virtus beat Baskonia 86–78 in EuroLeague play on Friday. It’s a new team and a new league for Frazier, and an easy reason for Illinois fans to keep an eye on a box score from Bologna.