One of the top point guards point guards in Illinois’ 2026 class received his first scholarship offer. On Wednesday, Rykan Woo, a 6’1” junior of DePaul Prep and the Illinois Wolves was offered by UC-Davis of the Big West Conference.
“I feel really good to pick up my first scholarship offer,” Woo said on the UC-Davis offer. “It feels like all my hard work and the sacrifices I made, and my parents made are starting to pay off.” In addition to the offer, he has a number of other programs who have shown interest in him. Among them include Belmont, Bradley, Cal, Columbia, Drake, Harvard, Illinois State, Loyola Chicago, Navy, Penn, Princeton, Southern Illinois, Yale, and many others.
“I really like the fact that UC-Davis is a prestigious and high academic school that is located in California because that’s where I was born,” Woo said about the first school to offer him. “The weather and the food are both really good too…I also have a lot of family out in the California too, so they are all really excited as well. I also really like the coaching staff. Coach Les and his staff have all been very welcoming and supportive. I’m really looking forward to learning more about the school, the culture, how they run their team practices and games, and seeing how I can contribute to their overall goals.” Woo is working on scheduling a visit out wet to UC-Davis as well as ones to Belmont and Illinois State.
Over the past couple of year, Woo has been a standout with the Illinois Wolves. He said this past season went well. “My team ended this past spring undefeated in the UAA circuit going 8-0 before breaking for the summer and earning an invite from USA Basketball to play in the Club Championships in Rock Hill. We didn’t finish the summer season the way that we wanted to this year, placing seventh overall in the UAA circuit, but I think that will just motivate us to win it next year.”
After spending the first two years of his high school career at Whitney Young High School, Woo has made the move to DePaul Prep. “Some goals that I have for junior year is to help DePaul College Prep win state and the Chicago Catholic League and trying to be the best teammate, person that I can be, on and off the court this season.”