Upacking what will be remembered as “The Keaton Wagler Game”: ‘He’s him’

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Keaton Wagler returned to the visiting locker room at Mackie Arena on Saturday afternoon, he had taken a moment to be embraced by his entire team following an electric win against No. 4 Purdue with a handful of his teammates, 88-82. A few moments later he jogged as he left the court, receiving cheers from a few remaining fans, but he hardly flinched.

No smile. no wave.

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A cold and impressive display of self control given the historical nature of his performance.

Wagler scored a mindboggling 46 points, the most by an opposing player in Mackie Arena history and the most points scored in a road win over a top-10 opponent in AP poll history. Perhaps more importantly, he was — for the most part — the singular and biggest reason Illinois was able to pull off such an exhilirating win on Saturday.

“I thought Keaton was like nothing I’ve seen in my 39-years, especially in a top-5 or top-10 matchup,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said. “Keaton really made it look easy… He just took what the defense gave him.”

As Underwood glowed about his young, even baby-faced freshman, Wagler sat next to him, once again, without an ounce of emotion to be found.

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Wagler smashed the previous Freshman record for most points scored in a game by an Illini. The previous record was held by Giorgi Bezhanishvili when he dropped 35-points on Rutgers in 2019. His record performance tied him up with Andy Kaufmann for second-most points scored by an Illini in the history of the program.

“It’s a crazy thing, that even I, never thought that I would do,” Wagler said after the game. “I just let the game come to me, and it was my night tonight, and I think my teammates knew that too so they were trying to find me the ball and let me go to work and that what happened.”

Wagler pulled the Illini out of several tough spots, especially during their horrid start to the game. Wagler scored the first 16 points, and had 24 out of Illinois 36 first half…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/upacking-remembered-keaton-wagler-game-030233951.html

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Publish date : 2026-01-25 03:02:00

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