Report: Illinois freshman Kasparas Jakucionis ruled out with injury against Penn State

The Illinois Fighting Illini got some bad news on Wednesday night ahead of their matchup on the hardwood with the Penn State Nittany Lions. Freshman sensation Kasparas Jakucionis will not play on Wednesday evening against the Nittany Lions. He’s been ruled out of the game due to a left forearm injury, according to college basketball expert Andy Katz.

A native of Lithuania, Jakucionis was tabbed as a three-star prospect out of high school, ranking as the No. 159 overall prospect in the country according to the On3 Industry Rankings for the 2024 cycle. One of the top freshmen in the country, he was tabbed as the No. 3 freshman in college basketball, according to On3’s Jamie Shaw. In the 2024-2025 season, he’s been averaging 16.4 points, 5.4 assists, 1.3 steals, 0.1 blocks per game, while shooting 41.4% three-point range.

Illinois whipped Penn State on Wednesday night, 91-52. No Jakucionis, no problem for Illinois. Ben Humrichous picked up the slack, stuffing the stat sheet with 21 points and nine rebounds. Tre White also pumped in 20 points and seven rebounds and Morez Johnson, Jr. had 20 points. Those three players alone outscored PSU. This one was never even close.

Humrichous led the Evansville Aces in scoring last year with 14.7 points per game, while shooting 41.4% from long distance.

Penn State shot just (20-65) 30.8% from the field and (2-12) 16.7% from three-point range. They also hit 10 of their 14 free throws. Illinois hit 34 of their 77 shots from the field, 10 of their 31 shots from beyond-the-arc (32.3%) and hit 13 of 16 shots from free throw (81.3%).

With the win, Illinois improved to 12-3 and 4-1 in the Big Ten Conference. Penn State dropped to 12-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten. Illinois has now rattled off five straight wins since losing to Tennessee. And in three of those wins, they scored 91 points or more.