HOUSTON – Keaton Wagler’s eyes flirted with the rim and his feet appeared to follow suit. The Illinois freshman guard dribbled past the 3-point line and suddenly spun to his left, sending his defender stumbling backward as if propelled by an invisible force.
Iowa guard Isaia Howard scrambled to his feet, but by then Wagler was launching a stepback 3-pointer that gave Illinois a second-half lead.
That misdirection is part of Wagler’s magic: Just when you think you know what to expect, he shapeshifts.
In-depth: How Keaton Wagler has risen from freshman unknown to superstar
For the entire second half of Saturday’s NCAA Tournament Elite Eight game, Wagler traded buckets with Iowa star Bennett Stirtz — the Hawkeyes’ well-traveled veteran leader and the Illini’s star freshman, both players who were once undervalued during their basketball careers, delivering for their teams in an Elite Eight throwdown.
In the end, Wagler won the duel. Behind his 25 points, Illinois downed Iowa, 71-59, and advanced to the program’s first Final Four in 21 years. Wagler was named the South Region’s Most Outstanding Player.
Following an inefficient shooting night in Illinois’ Sweet 16 win over Houston, in which Wagler shot 4-of-14 from the floor but grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, he transformed back into a scoring machine down the stretch against Iowa.
Illinois outscored Iowa in the second half 43-27 and held the Hawkeyes scoreless for the final two minutes, with Wagler scoring 14 points in the second half alone.
“Once he finds his rhythm, it’s like a flow state,” said Illinois assistant coach Tyler Underwood. “You can always tell when he’s starting to get into it. It takes him a little bit of time but he just has a unique ability to be in the present moment and be able to live with mistakes and live with the outcome because he knows he’s loved, and he knows how hard he works.”
The telltale signs Wagler is about to go off, according to Underwood: Wagler starts patting the ball, getting to his left-to-right crossover, spinning around defenders. Everything he does becomes a little peppier, injected with an intangible yet immediately identifiable swag.
“It just feels like the game is slowing down for me,” Wagler said. “Just everything’s going right, every pass, getting to the rim, finishing, all that stuff.”
The game’s second half, then, must have felt to him like an eternity. As the last few seconds melted away, Wagler dribbled out the clock and raised one hand to beckon cheers from the crowd. That moment was his to savor alone, and then he wasn’t alone any longer. When the sound of an air horn punctuated Wagler’s lifelong dream, he was wrapped in a bear hug by Illinois forward Ben Humrichous and then swarmed by elated teammates.
After the net was cut and a team photo snapped, Wagler weaved through the confetti-strewn court and finally reached the people he sought.
He embraced his mom, Jennifer, first. Then came his dad, Logan, older brother Landon and older sister Brooklyn. Finally, Keaton looked up and saw Victor Williams, his AAU basketball coach with VWBA Elite. Williams and Wagler’s family nurtured Keaton’s skill as well as his ambition.
“I know that they know that this is my dream,” Wagler said. “Every since I was a little kid I’ve always talked about this. To be in this position, to have them here and we’re going to the Final Four, it just means the world.”
His parents, who met while playing basketball at a community college in Kansas, knew their youngest son truly loved the game when he was in first grade and played on a team of third graders but was not dissuaded by being the youngest or one of the smallest.
“He couldn’t hardly get the ball up to the hoop, but he could do everything else,” Logan Wagler said. “I knew he would amount to something. I didn’t know it would lead him here, though.”
Neither did Illinois coach Brad Underwood and his staff. It was Underwood’s son, Tyler, an Illini assistant coach, who first identified Wagler as a prospect out of Shawnee, Kansas. Wagler had won two state championships with Shawnee Mission Northwest High School and was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2025, but according to Tyler Underwood some power-conference programs had reservations about Wagler’s smaller physique.
The first time Brad Underwood went to see Wagler play in person was after Illinois had already signed him. Wagler had scored 36 points in a game the night before, but with Underwood present he scored just two points. Nevertheless, Underwood was ecstatic when he left the gym and called his son.
“I said, ‘We just got an incredible talent,’” Brad Underwood recalled. “They blitzed him, they got it out of his hand, he made every right play, he was not selfish, he was not a pig, he wasn't trying to force things. He just let the game come to him. Very, very mature as a senior in high school when you're the guy. And he just played the game, and so I felt great about it. Did I know a 178-pound kid coming in was going to be this? I didn't.”
When Wagler arrived at Illinois, he added 25 pounds of weight and worked on getting stronger. He was in the starting lineup right away but mostly in an off-ball role, with senior guard Kylan Boswell assuming the lion’s share of ball handling responsibilities.
In mid-January, Boswell broke his hand and was sidelined for several weeks. On Jan. 24, Wagler’s breakout game was a 46-point outburst that led Illinois to a road win at No. 4 Purdue — a Big Ten freshman scoring record with a school-record nine 3-pointers. That performance solidified Wagler’s self-confidence.
“The ascension happened so fast, and I think he showed himself, ‘I can do this,’” Underwood said. “And I think his teammates wanted that out of him. Like, I don’t think he gets here without his teammates’ encouragement.”
Illinois forward Zvonimir Ivisic, who transferred into the program this season from Arkansas, said his first impression of Wagler was of a player who was overlooked — and who let that fuel him.
“We all know what Keat’s capable of,” Ivisic said. “I was amazed. I didn’t hear a lot about him before, but when I see his playing style, how he handles the ball, how he handles himself, I was like, why a lot of people don’t talk about him enough? Everybody underestimated him. He’s a special player.”
Illinois forward David Mirkovic said that whether it’s a preseason scrimmage or a high-stakes NCAA Tournament game with a Final Four trip on the line, Wagler loves to compete.
“Keat looks like he enjoys every type of game,” Illinois forward David Mirkovic said. “Every type of basketball, every style. He just really whatever pass and challenge they offer him he always plays really good. He always adapts, adjusts to anything that’s in front of him. He’s such a big guy, really, most important player to us. When he adjusts like that we all follow him.”
Wagler relishes being called upon to deliver in big moments, but he won’t ever boast or describe himself with superlatives.
On Stirtz, he said, “He’s a really good player. We knew we had our hands full with him, so I just try to go out there and do what I do every game and if it’s for me to score the ball, then I’ll look to score the ball. But if I need to pass it, then do that. And tonight was more scoring so I just tried to do that.”
Wagler walked back to the locker room clutching his NCAA nameplate, which he said he intends to frame. As soon as he walked through the wooden double doors to the locker room, hands reached out from all sides to clap him on the back and offer handshakes. Wagler accepted and acknowledged each gesture with a nod or a high-five, all the while never breaking his stride.
He’s back to being just another kid with a basketball and a dream, until the next game, when he will become whatever Illinois needs him to be.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Keaton Wagler was unheralded recruit. Now, he has Illinois in Final Four
