Keaton Wagler: A top-five freshman in college basketball per Evan Miyakawa

Keaton Wagler continues to gain steam as one of the best freshmen in the entire country. Evan Miyakawa, who leads Evanmiya.com, one of the best analytics sites for college basketball, recently released a list of top freshmen in the country. This list is based on overall player value based on box score stats, on-off plus-minus data, and historical information. The top four in the list did not have any surprises. It consisted of Duke’s Cameron Boozer, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Houston’s Kingston Flemings, and North Carolina’s Caleb Wilson. At five, however, was the Illini’s very own Keaton Wagler.

Through 14 games this season, Wagler has averaged 15.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists in 30.4 minutes per game. He is also efficiently shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 40.6% from the three-point line. He averages just 1.4 turnovers per game despite taking over as the team’s primary ball handler. In the game vs Penn State, Wagler battled foul trouble and only played 20 minutes. His absence was extremely notable as it led to a small run by Penn State.

Here are the nation’s top freshmen, according to Bayesian Performance Rating at https://t.co/cegyfz96ax pic.twitter.com/QICKwS8dQR

— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) January 6, 2026

Another interesting point made by Evan Miya

In Evan Miyakawa’s post it included the preseason rankings of these players. Keaton Wagler was ranked 131st per EvanMiya.com amongst freshmen in the preseason. That means he has jumped 126 spots in just half of a season. It is just another highlight of how impressive Wagler’s rise to stardom has been.

Additionally, there was another Illini on the top freshmen list. Forward David Mirkovic was slated at number 13 overall on this same list. Mirkovic has also been a key player for the Illini as a freshman. In fact, the Illini ended up playing through Mirkovic to initiate offense when Wagler was sitting with foul trouble.

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