4-star C Antwan January commits to Illinois

Brad Underwood and Co. had to wait a long time, but they have finally secured a commitment for the class of 2019.

Antwan January announced his commitment to Illinois on Tuesday via Instagram.

January, a 6-foot-10, 240-pound center from Santa Monica, California, and he just pledged his commitment to the Orange and Blue. January held high major offers from Kansas State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, TCU, Florida State and DePaul, among others.

January is ranked as a four-star recruit, and the No. 120 player in the Rivals Composite Rankings for 2019. He’s a big, athletic body that can run the floor well and clear people away in the paint. This commitment addresses the biggest need on the current roster.

January will provide frontcourt help to Samba Kane and Giorgi Bezhanishvilli. Kane is more of a rim-runner and shot blocker with a mid-range offensive game while Giorgi is more of a stretch four or five with great passing skills. January will look to be the big and tough rebounder and post scorer down low.

That’s three young bigs with complimentary skill sets that Underwood is going to be able to tinker with.

Illinois has missed out on a host of big men for the 2019 class before landing January, most notably Oscar Tshiebwe, who committed to Bob Huggins at West Virginia. Tshiebwe is ranked about 100 spots higher than January. The WVU commit has a little more explosion and touch at this point of his career, but January will ideally be able to provide similar strength and rebounding to an undersized Illini team.

Here’s an updated look at Illinois’ scholarship chart.

The Illini currently still have two open spots in the 2019 class.

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