Recently Zion Lee made his first college visit. The 2026 guard of Sacred Heart Griffin High School and the Illinois Wolves visited University of Illinois.
“The Illinois visit was great,” Lee first said about his visit to the Big 10 program. “It was really another confirmation of how hard you have to work to be able to contribute at that level. I’ve been around a lot of high-level guys, so I definitely understand what it takes, and the visit just reconfirmed that. I was in 8th grade and on the bench in 2022 when Keshon Singleton hit the game-winning three in double overtime for the state championship so being there brought back a lot of memories of us rushing the floor at the buzzer.”
On his visit, Lee was able to check in the Illini’s practice. “Illinois was just coming off of a large exhibition loss to Ole Miss on Sunday, so this was one of their first practices back. When I walked in Coach Alexander warned me that this was going to be a pretty intense practice…Matter of fact that actually made me more comfortable with the type of environment that it was that day. I really liked the competitiveness in practice, especially there were two to three NBA scouts there in attendance as well.”
After injuring himself in the first game of his sophomore season and missing a large portion of the season, Lee has his eyes set on his upcoming junior season. “My goal is to win and really show that I am a high-level guard that can play the one through three and sometimes the four as well…Another goal is to put on more muscle. I’m only 16 and I don’t turn 17 until May so my body is still kind of young so that’s important. One of my last goals is to be a leader on the floor and make my teammates better. We have a good young team and I’m excited to play with them this season!”