Who is Keaton Wagler? Freshman sets records in Illinois basketball victory
Call it the Keaton Wagler game. Inside the numbers of the Illinois freshman's big day vs. No. 4 Purdue.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Illinois basketball got a record-setting performance in an upset victory over Purdue.
Freshman Keaton Wagler scored 46 points to lead the No. 11 Fighting Illini to an 88-82 victory against No. 4 Purdue at Mackey Arena on Saturday.
Wagler scored 41 of his 46 in the first 31 minutes of the game, setting the opponent mark for Mackey Arena. The Illini then closed out the Boilermakers with clutch 3-pointers from Tomislav Ivisic, Jake Davis and David Mirkovic — part of a school-record 18 for the Illini.
Wagler is now averaging 17.5 points and is 50-for-115 on 3-pointers (43.5%). His previous single-game scoring best was 23 points in a Dec. 9 victory at Ohio State.
Keaton Wagler records
Wagler's 46 points tied for second-most all time in Illinois program history behind the 53 scored by Canton native Dave Downey. Andy Kaufmann also scored 46 in a 1990 game.
Wagler was 9-for-11 from 3-point range, a single-game record for made 3s in Illinois history. Six players have made eight, the last Terrence Shannon Jr. in 2022.
Both the point and 3-point totals were Illinois freshman single-game records, smashing the 35-point total previously set by Giorgi Bezhanishvili in 2019.
No. 11 @IlliniMBB wins at No. 4 Purdue, behind Keaton Wagler's record-breaking 4️⃣6️⃣ points ???? pic.twitter.com/ritVmw4tFM— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 24, 2026
Who is Keaton Wagler?
The 6-foot-6, 185-pounder is an 18-year-old freshman guard for the Illinois men's basketball team. He is from Shawnee, Kansas, and played at Mission Northwest High School. He turns 19 years old on Feb. 3, 2026.
The four-star recruit was the top player in Kansas for the Class of 2025, leading his team to back-to-back Kansas state championships. As a senior in high school, he averaged 18.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.8 steals while shooting 59% overall, 45% from 3-point range, and 83% from the free-throw line.
He committed to Illinois on Sept. 18, 2024, the first member of Brad Underwood's Class of 2025. At the time of his commitment, he also had offers from Tulsa, Saint Louis, DePaul, Oral Roberts, UIC, Northern Colorado, Le Moyne, Texas-Rio Grand Valley, Kansas City and Rockhurst.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Keaton Wagler, Illinois: Freshman scoring records in win vs. Purdue
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