CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) – Shauna Green has a history of reconnecting with players from the transfer portal when Illinois loses a close recruiting battle at the high school level.

It happened with Genesis Bryant, who found a home at Illinois after choosing to start her career at NC State. More recently, Peoria native Aaliyah Guyton opted to transfer to Illinois from Iowa after picking the Hawkeyes out of high school.

However, it doesn’t appear that was the case with Villanova transfer Maddie Webber. Webber put on the Wildcat hat instead of UMass when committing in August of 2022 before her senior year of high school.

Despite Illinois not being heavily involved in her recruitment as a prospect, Illini head women’s basketball coach quickly fell in love with what she saw on film when Webber entered the portal.

“[As] soon as I started watching her – her clips – I’m like ‘I love this kid.'” Green said. “And then I talked to her and I told our staff, like ‘We need her.'”

Green was somewhat familiar with Webber, a 5-foot-11 guard, from watching Villanova film ahead of the 2023 WBIT Championship game.

“We needed another wing, really,” Green said. “We needed scoring, but we needed size.”

Besides size, Webber checks at least two other boxes for Illinois. She brings two years of college basketball experience, while also having two years of eligibility remaining.

“I liked her because she can score, she has great length and she came from a system you need a high basketball IQ,” Green said. “She can score at all three levels… She’s been great, she has an elite motor. Someone that just never takes a play off. She [has] continued to be really, really coachable… She’s been really fun to watch.”

Webber averaged 13.3 points per game for Villanova as a sophomore.