Good Morning, Illini Nation: Davis interested in staying home

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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:

Davion Thompson was the first high-level guard in the Class of 2027 to announce he was leaving Illinois after two standout seasons at Bolingbrook to transfer to prep powerhouse Link Academy (Mo.). A late April decision that shook up high school basketball in the state.

Less than a month later Devin Cleveland made a similar move. The Kenwood standout -- and another top prospect in the Class of 2027 -- would spend the 2025-26 season at La Lumiere (Ind.) instead of with the Broncos.

That left Jaxson Davis as the last man standing in Illinois from a trio of in-state guards that have been regarded the best prospects in their class since their freshman year.

Davis, the reigning News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year, stayed at Warren. The four-star guard wouldn't mind staying close to home when it comes to his college basketball career either.

"I would say it would be really important," Davis said during his unofficial visit to Illinois earlier this month. "I would love to stay in my own state and play in front of my own fans and my own family that could come to basically all my home games. It would be an amazing feeling. I feel like I would get a lot of attention, and I'd thrive off that."

Davis has thrived in front of friendly crowds at Warren the past two seasons. The 6-foot-1 guard averaged 19.5 points, 5.3 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 3.5 steals as a freshman for the Blue Devils in 2023-24, helping them go 31-5. Then it was 19.4 points, 6.1 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game (and player of the year honors) as a sophomore for the Class 4A state runners-up.

Davis got his Illinois offer in late December of his freshman season after earning MVP honors at the Proviso West Christmas Tournament. Warren's run to the Class 4A state championship game happened with most of the Illini staff in attendance at State Farm Center.

Illinois was Davis' first offer. He's now up to 11, with Indiana, Purdue, Marquette, Iowa, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Arizona State, DePaul, Toledo, Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois also in the mix.

Davis' recruitment picked up steam this summer after a standout run with Meanstreets on Nike's E16 circuit playing with Thompson and East Peoria standout Quinton Kitts. Davis averaged 18.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and five assists across 18 games.

"Those are my brothers," Davis said of Thompson and Kitts. Both players also hold Illinois offers. "We talk on the phone all the time. We love playing together. We obviously didn't come out with a Peach Jam championship, but we've got one more year to achieve that.

Even without a Peach Jam title, Davis called his spring and summer "a success."

"Honestly, I shot the ball really well during the EYBL and that really helped my recruiting," Davis said. He shot 47 percent overall, 44 percent from three-point range and 81 percent at the free throw lie. "I'm a little bit of an undersized guard, so I've got to defend and shoot the ball at a high level. I think I showed that this spring and summer."

Davis kept his eyes on Kylan Boswell and Mihailo Petrovic throughout Illinois' practice he attended two weeks ago, watching how the Illini point guards operated in the ball screen-dominant offense. How they played with pace. How they worked in conjunction with the Illinois bigs. How they communicated.

"I would say Petrovic, he's extremely skilled," Davis said. "A really quick guard. Boswell is really strong and can get downhill on guys and get to the paint and also shoot the ball really well, too."

Davis sees his style of play fitting with what he's seen from Illinois in his visits to Champaign. The most recent practice he saw reinforced that idea.

"They really emphasize playing really fast," Davis said. "A lot of schools will say they like to play fast, but they were really showing it playing fast trying to get the ball up the court trying to get a shot within 6 or 7 seconds of the shot clock."