Wills enters his first season on the bench at UIC after the announcement of his addition to the coaching staff on July 10, 2023.
Wills, an Indianapolis native, is a Missouri Valley Conference alumnus. He made 71 career starts over four years at Illinois State, with UIC head coach Luke Yaklich on the coaching staff for all four seasons. His senior season in 2016-17, Wills started 32 games for a 28-7 Redbird squad that won a share of the MVC regular-season title with a 17-1 league record. Wills was named to the MVC's All-Defensive team after the season.Â
Starting his coaching career at SIU in 2022-23, Wills helped the Salukis outperform the preseason expectations of ESPN's BPI, KenPom, Sagarin, Norlander, and Sports Illustrated. SIU returned only three players from the previous year's team, but the team won 10 MVC games anyway, the most ever by a team that had been picked last in the league's preseason poll. The Salukis ran off 10-straight home wins and seven-straight MVC wins during the season, both of which were the longest for the program since 2007.Â
Wills, who was a standout defensive player at Illinois State, helped the Salukis rank in the top-15 nationally in scoring defense in his first season in Carbondale. The Salukis allowed just 62.2 points per game and led the MVC in scoring defense for the first time since 2007.Â
Freshman Marcus Domask was named the league's Freshman and Newcomer of the Year, along with second-team All-Conference. He was named a Freshman All-American and was one of only four freshmen in the nation to average 13.5 points, 5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.Â
