On a night when a legendary Illinois big man was honored for his contributions to the program and a current Illini big man was the driving force in a potentially season-shifting win, it wouldn’t have come as a surprise if Italy’s 7-foot-3 Luigi Suigo – despite being almost 5,000 miles from home – felt a certain swift kinship in Champaign.

The Illini were both shrewd and fortunate enough to schedule an on-campus visit for Suigo, a coveted recruit, on Tuesday, when former All-American Kofi Cockburn returned for his uniform-raising ceremony at halftime and Tomislav Ivisic helped Illinois complete the sell with 16 points and seven rebounds in an 83-78 win over streaking UCLA at the State Farm Center.

If this is the first time you’re hearing about Suigo, welcome to the club. Although described in some circles as a top-50 talent in the class of 2026, Suigo isn’t ranked as such by any of the major recruiting sites and has thus far made ripples rather than waves on the international scene.

But here are the facts: According to our most recent findings, Suigo stands 7-foot-3, has a 7-foot-5 wingspan and a 20-inch standing vertical, and only just turned 18 in January. He participated in the Adidas Next Generation Tournament last spring and was among the 60 invitees for Basketball Without Borders Europe.

His statistics, across AX Armani Exchange Milan’s junior and Serie A clubs, Italy’s Under-18 teams and who-knows-how-many other pit stops and cameo appearances, are all over the board and, frankly, not all that important.

What’s clear is that Suigo is huge, fairly well-rounded and raw – though, if message board and blog accounts are to be believed, he is making noticeable progress. Take a look for yourself at some relatively recent video of Suigo in action against age-appropriate competition:

Illinois on SI recruiting take: Suigo, according to recruiting sites, is also being pursued by BYU and Kentucky (among, perhaps, many others). The apparent plan is for Tomislav Ivisic to stick around Champaign at least through the 2025-26 season, Suigo to get another year-plus of development under his belt and then be ready to step into the Illini frontcourt – and perhaps even take the reins from Ivisic – in 2026-27. But literally none of those things are assured.

Suigo’s size is unimpeachable, and some reports claim that his athleticism is beginning to catch up with his length. From what we can see, he already runs the floor fairly well for his size and seems to have a deft touch around the basket. But the jury is still out on whether Suigo can replace Ivisic’s three-point shooting, passing or defensive positioning – all of which have been as important to the success of this season’s Illini as, say, Kasparas Jakucionis’ contributions.

But as Illini coach Brad Underwood would be the first to admit, you rarely know what you’ve got until you get a recruit on to campus, put them in uniform and throw them on your practice floor for the first time. For Suigo and Illinois, Tuesday at least marked the first step.

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