Latest news with #Fagbemi
Chicago Tribune
09-05-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Blake Fagbemi commits to Illinois after leading Benet to state title: ‘They like how I find a way to win'
When senior point guard Blake Fagbemi led Benet to the Class 4A state title at the State Farm Center in Champaign on March 15, he had no idea that arena would be his future home. At the time, Fagbemi was committed to Truman State, a Division II program. Then he heard from one of its coaches. 'The assistant coach called me and told me the coach and the school parted ways, so after I heard that, I reopened my recruitment,' Fagbemi said. 'That was about a month ago.' It didn't take long for Division I coaches to come calling. Zach Hamer, an assistant to Illinois coach Brad Underwood, was one of them. Underwood and his staff have been retooling the roster since the Illini's loss to Kentucky in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. 'When I decommitted, that same night coach Hamer reached out to me,' Fagbemi said. 'We just continued the conversation. He was talking about how much coach Underwood loved my game. 'I had other schools reaching out, but I didn't have any actual offers.' That changed Wednesday, when Illinois extended an offer, and Fagbemi accepted. He will become the third Benet player in coach Gene Heidkamp's 17-year tenure to commit to a Big Ten program, joining former Wisconsin star Frank Kaminsky and former Northwestern standout Dave Sobolewski. 'It's great for Blake and his family and for our program,' Heidkamp said. 'We're very excited that he's got this opportunity to be a part of the Illinois program. 'It's a tremendous opportunity for him, so everybody is very excited and very proud of him.' Fagbemi was one of the best passing guards in the state as a senior. He averaged 12.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.6 assists for the Redwings (33-5), who defeated Warren 55-54 in the 4A championship game to win their first state title. Fagbemi, who was the East Suburban Catholic Conference player of the year and a 4A all-state second-team selection by the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association, will be joining a program that has made five consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. 'It feels great to stay home and represent the community by playing at Illinois,' Fagbemi said. 'They saw that I'm a winner. 'That's one thing that they brought up to me, is that they like how I find a way to win. They like my ability to get my teammates better and get them going.' The 6-foot-1 Fagbemi often had a lot of pressure on him but was always able to get the Redwings going. He was the straw that stirred the drink for a team that reached the pinnacle of success for the first time in program history. Benet had lost three previous state championship games. 'Sometimes I enjoy it, and sometimes I don't,' Fagbemi said of the pressure. 'I enjoy it because I like to see my teammates succeed. I take pride in helping other people and getting them where they want to go.' Fagbemi has gone further than he initially thought. In that way, he is following in the footsteps of his older brother Brayden, who was the point guard on Benet's 2023 state runner-up team. Brayden Fagbemi played one season at Johns Hopkins and then transferred to Central Arkansas, making the jump from Division III to Division I. 'I talked with him about his experience, like what to expect and how to go about it respectfully,' Blake Fagbemi said. What can be expected of Fagbemi as a freshman at Illinois? 'Right now, his role is to do whatever the coaches ask him to do,' Heidkamp said. 'He's got to work on getting better and giving the team everything he can day in and day out. 'That's his role right now and one that he's going to embrace willingly and be excited about. It's an excellent opportunity for development with all the resources that they have, with the coaching that they have and with the players he's going to be playing with and against in practice every day.' Fagbemi is already excited after what has been a whirlwind few weeks. 'This is what I've been working for my whole life, so it's great that it's finally paying off,' he said. 'It's great to experience it.'
Chicago Tribune
11-03-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Benet needs free throws, not 3-pointers, from Jayden Wright in supersectional. ‘Confident,' he comes through.
NORMAL, Illinois — Everyone knows about Benet junior guard Jayden Wright's 3-point shooting prowess by now. But beyond the arc isn't the only area where Wright is proficient. Take free-throw shooting. Might he be the Redwings' best shooter from the line? 'Yeah, I would say so,' Benet senior point guard Blake Fagbemi said. 'We practice free throws all the time, and he's a natural shooter, so free throws come along with that.' But Wright had never shot so many and with such accuracy as he did Monday night. He scored a game-high 21 points, including a 14-for-15 effort from the line, to lead the Redwings to a 58-50 victory over favored Quincy in the Class 4A ISU Supersectional at CEFCU Arena in Normal. 'He was great,' Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. 'I didn't realize it was 14 of 15, but Jayden is an experienced kid. 'Even though he's only a junior, he's played in a lot of big games. He stepped up in a big game and made it count, so I'm proud of him.' The Redwings (31-5), who will play Evanston (30-5) in the state semifinals at the State Farm Center in Champaign at 6 p.m. Friday, led Quincy (31-4) wire to wire. They jumped out to a 9-0 lead and led by as many as 13 points on the strength of terrific defense that twice held the Blue Devils scoreless for nearly six minutes. Senior forward Daniel Pauliukonis, a Southern Illinois recruit, had 17 points and six rebounds for Benet. Fagbemi, a Truman State commit, added 14 points, eight rebounds and five assists. But as their lead shrank in the final minutes, the Redwings most often got the ball in Wright's hands, not Fagbemi's. While the din in the arena got ever louder, there was only silence in Wright's head. 'To be honest, when I'm at the free-throw line, I don't really hear anything,' he said. 'It's just me. It's all about focus and all the work I've put in. I feel confident shooting them.' The Redwings felt confident after Wright's two free throws gave them a 45-32 cushion with 2:29 remaining. They stayed that way even as Quincy senior guard Bradley Longcor, a Santa Clara recruit, scored 10 of his team-high 17 points in the final 2:16, including two free throws that cut Benet's lead to 53-50 with 31.6 seconds left. 'We're always confident,' Wright said. 'We're never going to play not to lose. We're always going to play to win, play aggressive. We're never going to get tight.' If ever there was a time for Wright to get tight, it was when the Blue Devils fouled him immediately after Longcor's free throws. Wright calmly made both foul shots. Pauliukonis followed with a steal and passed to Wright, who was fouled and sank another pair of free throws with 19.1 seconds left. That made it 57-50 and sealed the game, just as Fagbemi knew the Redwings would do. 'We had to stay calm,' Fagbemi said. 'We knew that if we put one or two stops together that eventually we were going to push out that lead.' That's been a theme for the Redwings this season. They usually find a way to do what needs to be done. 'We're a really experienced team,' Wright said. 'We've played in almost every game you could play, and now we're doing pretty much the same thing every day. So we feel like we've been through every situation that we could have been through up to this point.' The victory earned the Redwings their ninth trip to the state finals and fourth under Heidkamp. But it will be the first semifinal appearance for everyone on the roster. 'It always feels great,' Heidkamp said. 'I'm happy for our kids. 'It's been a long year, and for the kids to get this opportunity I think says a lot about them. It's always nice to get down, but you always think about the kids that are involved and the opportunity to experience this for them.' The prospect of that experience is what drove the Redwings against Quincy. 'We played our butts off,' Wright said. 'We knew that could have been our last game. We didn't want it to be our last game, so we left it all out there. 'The coaches prepared us really well, we had a good game plan, and we went out there and executed it.'
Chicago Tribune
06-03-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Benet's Daniel Pauliukonis is a challenge for Waubonsie Valley. The SIU recruit's ‘playing at a high level.'
Benet senior forward Daniel Pauliukonis looked at the sellout crowd and felt inspired. The Southern Illinois recruit couldn't have asked for more for the Redwings' home game against Waubonsie Valley in the Class 4A Benet Sectional semifinals. 'It was electric,' Pauliukonis said. 'It was a great environment to play in. Thanks to the Benet community. They all came out. I'm extremely proud of them.' No doubt the Benet fans were proud of Pauliukonis, who scored a season-high 23 points to lead the third-seeded Redwings to a 63-45 victory over the second-seeded Warriors. Senior point guard Blake Fagbemi had a feeling during warmups that the 6-foot-9 Pauliukonis was going to have a great game for Benet (29-5), which advances to the sectional final to play fourth-seeded Downers Grove North (26-8) at 7 p.m. Friday. 'He was hitting a lot,' Fagbemi said. 'Before the game, I was telling him if we get it to him early, we're going to have a good game. 'He got it going early. He followed that plan, and it worked out.' That it did. Pauliukonis hit his first shot, a 3-pointer, to break a 2-2 tie and start a 10-0 run by the Redwings, who didn't trail after that. Pauliukonis made 9 of 12 shots, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. 'Daniel is playing at a high level right now,' Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. 'He's really come into his own and is having an outstanding season. 'His confidence is very high, and he's playing like it. We're trying to get as much out of his senior year as possible.' It would be hard for Heidkamp to get much more out of Pauliukonis or any of the other Redwings than he did against the Warriors (31-3), who got buried by a blizzard of 3-pointers and other shots. Benet shot 69%, hitting 9 of 13 3-point attempts and 24 of 35 overall. Junior guard Jayden Wright and 7-0 junior center Colin Stack each scored 16 points on a combined 12-of-17 shooting. Fagbemi scored five points and took only one shot after halftime but had nine assists. 'I just make the right play,' Fagbemi said. 'Just stay aggressive on the drives, and we know if we play inside-out basketball, we are going to get good shots. 'Sometimes I score. Sometimes I pass it. Whatever the defense shows us. It makes my job easier.' And the job for opposing defenses much harder. 'The name of the game is to try to keep Blake out of the paint and creating for others, but it's a lot harder to do in reality than theoretically,' Waubonsie Valley coach Andrew Schweitzer said. 'We did a deep dive looking at the five losses that they had, and the one commonality is they didn't shoot the three that well. 'We knew that's one thing we had to take away, and I felt most of them were contested pretty well. But credit to Benet. They executed, and they shot the crap out of the ball.' Senior guards Joshua Tinney and Tyreek Coleman scored 14 points and 11 points, respectively, for the Warriors, who got within 14-12 on Coleman's turnaround jumper late in the first quarter. But Pauliukonis answered with a baseline drive to start a 12-4 run that senior guard Michael Doyle capped with a 3-pointer that gave Benet a 26-16 lead. Tinney scored the first five points of the second half to cut the gap to 34-29, but Benet responded with a 12-0 run, capped by a Pauliukonis dunk. 'We stayed poised as a team, moved the ball,' Pauliukonis said. 'All of us played well together.' Which was impressive, especially considering the opponent. The Warriors, who set their program record for wins this season, went 58-6 over the past two seasons while winning back-to-back DuPage Valley Conference titles for the first time. 'They're an excellent team,' Heidkamp said. 'If that was not our best game, it was one of our best games. 'We played well together offensively, and I thought we really competed at a high level defensively. That was a really solid game for us on both sides of the floor.'
Chicago Tribune
27-01-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Full of confidence, Benet's Blake Fagbemi ‘wants the ball, and he wants to make plays.' And he's making them.
Benet point guard Blake Fagbemi was a solid player as the sixth man for a team that won a Class 4A regional title last season. Fagbemi's teammates have watched the 6-foot-1 senior improve dramatically since then. 'Blake has gotten so much better than he was last year,' Benet junior center Colin Stack said. 'The day our season ended last year, he was in the gym with me that day working out. So he's gotten a lot stronger, and that led to him gaining more confidence.' Fagbemi, whose older brother Brayden led the Redwings to the 4A state championship game in 2023 and is the starting point guard for Central Arkansas, is averaging 13.0 points, 7.0 assists and 5.5 rebounds this season. Usually a pass-first facilitator, Fagbemi obviously can score, too, and Benet coach Gene Heidkamp calls him a 'freak rebounder.' 'He's had a really good season,' Heidkamp said. 'He's just physically strong and athletic for his size. He can do some things athletically that a lot of people his size can't do.' Fagbemi, a Truman State commit, put much of that on display against Rich Township in Benet's packed gym on Saturday. He racked up 22 points, 11 rebounds and six assists — leading all players in each category — as the Redwings rolled to a 73-56 victory in the When Sides Collide shootout. The Raptors tried to deny Fagbemi open passing lanes, but that strategy failed spectacularly. He scored on three straight drives to the basket in the early going, and the last one resulted in a three-point play that gave the Redwings (20-4) an 11-3 lead. 'They were up in my grill the whole game, so I took advantage of the space they were giving me and got to the basket,' Fagbemi said. 'The floor was open, my teammates were doing a good job of opening space, so we took what the defense gave us.' Rich Township (14-6) cut the lead to 38-34 by halftime, but the Redwings came out on fire in the third quarter. Fagbemi scored the last five points of the quarter and then scored on another strong drive early in the fourth quarter to give Benet a 65-45 cushion. It was a signature win for the Redwings, who had lost two of their past four games, albeit against two tough opponents, St. Patrick and Bolingbrook. 'This is a huge win,' Stack said. 'Last week, we got a little reality check by losing to Pat's. We didn't shoot well, but they beat us, so it really came down to more do we want to go for individual stats or do we want to win games. At that point, we decided to sacrifice stats.' Fagbemi had the best of both worlds against the Raptors, coming close to a triple-double. 'We've got a good group,' Heidkamp said. 'When they play together, the pieces really fit, and Blake's a huge part of that. 'He creates a lot of shots for our team, not only for himself but the other guys, and he's not afraid. He's got a lot of toughness. He wants the ball, and he wants to make plays, and he did a lot for us tonight.' Stack, who contributed 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, was often on the receiving end of Fagbemi's passes. 'He's really worked on his handle and changing heights and changing paces,' Stack said. 'He's very good about throwing the passes and knowing when to throw them.' That makes Fagbemi a popular teammate. 'It's very fun playing with him,' Stack said. 'It's not just a one-way thing where he can only do this on offense. He can also play defense. He's a huge contributor to our defense. If he wasn't there sometimes, we would be leaving people wide open.' Fagbemi, though, shares the credit as easily as he shares the ball. 'During the summer, we got really good,' he said. 'We were playing with each other really well, so when you've got a great group of guys around you, it's easy to play. Our confidence is really high right now.'
