Three-star basketball recruit Anthony Higgs commits to Illinois

Illinois landed another prospect for the class of 2018 with the verbal commitment of three-star forward Anthony Higgs on Tuesday. The news was first reported by 247Sports.com, which received confirmation from the player himself.

“After talking to my family and deciding what will be best for my career as well as just my life style I’ve decided to attend University of Illinois,” Higgs said.

“The vibe that I received from the coaches and the culture they’ve built, every day they were calling and checking on me and just small talk. You just want to be somewhere you can be comfortable and build a family not just on the basketball court, but also outside of that.”

Higgs, a 6-foot-8 forward from Baltimore, is rated as the 13th-best player in Maryland and one of the top 400 players in the 2018 class by 247Sports. He had originally committed to play under Andy Kennedy at Mississippi, but reopened his recruitment when the Rebels decided to change coaches.

Other schools in the mix for Higgs included Louisville, Virginia Tech and Colorado. He also received offers from major programs such as Cincinnati, Kansas State and Xavier.

Higgs told 247Sports that he’s planning to head to Illinois later this year once he’s completed some summer courses.

Coach Brad Underwood and the Fighting Illini have assembled an impressive seven-player recruiting class for 2018, led by four-star recruits Ayo Dosunmu and Tevian Jones. Higgs joins Alan Griffin, Samba Kane, Andres Feliz and Giorgi Bezhanishvili as three-star commitments.