NORMAL, sick. – Illinois State Men’s Basketball Head Coach Ryan Pedon added to its inaugural recruiting class with the addition of former top-200 prospect and Kansas State student-athlete Luke Kasubke.
“I’ve known Luke for a while now because we recruited him out of high school when I was at Ohio State,” Pedon said. “First of all, Luke is a winner. He was a four-year winner at Chaminade High School, one of the top programs in the state of Missouri. He was coached there by Frank Bennett, whom I respect a lot in as a coach and teacher.. Luke has also had great success on the AAU circuit as his MoKan Elite program won the Peach Jam Championship before his senior year. I have seen with my own eyes how Luke manages to win. He’s a terrific shooter, a top competitor, and he’s playing to win.”
Kasubke, who played his last two seasons at Kansas State, will come to Normal with three years of eligibility remaining. Last season he played 30 games off the bench, averaging 12.2 minutes per game. He scored 57 points while delivering 14 assists and pulling 32 rebounds, while grabbing 10 steals. He scored a season-high eight points at Wichita State and added seven points at Ole Miss on Jan. 29, where he also grabbed a season-high five rebounds. His three assists against North Dakota were the most of the season for Kasubke, and he had two interceptions in three different games.
“Luke is an impressive young man and comes from a great family,” commented Pedon. “We couldn’t be more excited to add her to our Redbird family.”
A year earlier, Kasubke played 16 games – all in the Big 12 – after missing the first 13 games of the season due to injury. He scored 35 points in 16 minutes of action per game, while grabbing 20 rebounds and grabbing six steals. He scored a season-high eight points, four rebounds and two steals against eventual NCAA Division I champion Baylor on January 27 and scored at least five points four times and double-digit rebounds five times. He had three assists against Texas State on Feb. 6. He was named to the 2020 Fall Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and the 2021 All-Big 12 Rookie Academy Team.
As a prep for Chaminade High School, he was listed among the top 200 prospects by several recruiting services and was ranked among the nation’s top 40 shooting guards, including #31 by Rivals.com and #37 by 247Sports.com . He was ranked the No. 6 prospect in Missouri State by 247Sports.com.
He spent all four years at Chaminade and led the team to three trips to the MSHSAA Final Four and an 84-30 overall record in his four seasons. In his senior year, the Red Devils were 22-6 overall and advanced to the MSHSAA semi-finals before the tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Chaminade was voted the No. 1 team in the state by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association.
Kasubke was twice named to the Class 5A All-State Team by the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association and was named to the First Team Metro Catholic Conference and All-District Team while a member of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s All-Metro Third Team in its junior season. He scored nearly 1,500 points in his four seasons, which ranks him fourth in Chaminade High School history, behind NBA stars Jayson Tatum and Bradley Beal, and former NBA player David Lee. His 218 career three-pointers are the second in school history behind Beal’s 256.
His 22.3 points per game during his junior season ranked 10th in the St. Louis area, and he led the team in nearly every offensive category, including points, field goals, three-pointers and free throws, and averaged 4.4 rebounds. , 2.8 assists, 2.0 steals and 0.6 blocked shots per game.
Kasubke joins Colton Sandage, Darius Burford and Malachi Poindexter as newcomers for the 2022-23 basketball season.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird products, photos and more.
