Jake Davis Is Quietly Powering Illinois’ Big Ten Push - and That’s Exactly the Point
CHAMPAIGN - When Brad Underwood reshaped his 2024 roster, the headlines wrote themselves. Five-star freshmen.
Future NBA picks. European standouts.
Proven Power Five transfers. It was a haul that turned heads across college basketball.
But tucked into that group of ten newcomers was Jake Davis - a name that barely moved the needle at the time.
Now? He’s moving the game.
Davis isn’t the flashiest player on Illinois’ roster. He’s not the most athletic, and he’s not the guy you’ll see on highlight reels or mock drafts. But if you watch Illinois closely - really watch - you’ll see a player who’s become essential to a team with Final Four potential.
“He’s just turned into a heck of a college basketball player,” Underwood said. And that’s not coach-speak. That’s a nod to the value of a player who does the little things right, every single time.
Let’s rewind for a second. Davis came out of Indianapolis Cathedral High School without a single recruiting star next to his name.
He started his college career at Mercer, far from the spotlight. But in his second season at Illinois, he’s carved out a role that’s as steady as it is valuable.
He’s the glue guy on a team full of high-level talent - and he’s thriving in that role.
Illinois is currently riding high, sitting at 16-3 overall and 7-1 in Big Ten play, ranked No. 11 in the country. They boast the nation’s top-rated offense, and while Davis isn’t the engine, he’s one of the parts that keeps it humming. He spaces the floor, knocks down threes at one of the best clips in the conference, and plays smart, mistake-free basketball on both ends.
No, the offense doesn’t run through him. And no, he’s not the guy locking up the opponent’s top scorer. But what he brings is consistency - and in a league like the Big Ten, where every possession matters, that’s gold.
Davis fits seamlessly alongside Illinois’ stars. This is a roster loaded with firepower: two one-and-done talents in Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, a standout Croatian big man in Tomislav Ivisic who earned All-Big Ten honorable mention last season, and Kylan Boswell, arguably one of the program’s best two-way guards in recent memory. That’s before you even mention proven D-I starters like Tre White, Ben Humrichous, and Carey Booth.
In that mix, Davis doesn’t need to be a star - he just needs to be solid. And he’s been exactly that.
There’s something to be said for knowing your role and executing it to perfection. Davis doesn’t try to be something he’s not.
He spaces the floor, makes the right reads, rotates on defense, and takes care of the basketball. He’s the kind of player coaches trust implicitly - the guy who’s always in the right spot, who doesn’t force the issue, who makes winning plays that don’t show up in the box score.
And in a season where Illinois has legitimate Final Four aspirations, those kinds of players matter just as much as the headliners.
Jake Davis may not have come in with the hype. But he’s earning something better: the respect of his teammates, his coaches, and anyone paying close attention to one of the best teams in the country.