Illinois basketball may want to add some Rolling Stones songs to their pregame music – or at least one song.

The Illini can’t always get the recruits they want. But maybe they can still get what they need. And what they need is two more commits for the class of 2017.

For Illinois, the last couple days of recruiting has been a struggle.

The first bearer of bad news was five-star forward Kris Wilkes who committed to UCLA on Sunday. The next day, Illinois lost out on three-star center Mayan Kiir who chose VCU.

Even without Wilkes or Kiir, Illinois’ class of 2017 is still strong. The Illini are ranked No. 10 on 247sports.com and No. 9 on ESPN’s site.

But with the season underway, the time to recruit is dwindling. Here’s a list of targets Illinois might be seeking out.

Not landing Kiir certainly hurts Illinois in terms of size. Kiir stands at 6-foot-9, and that’s some size Illinois will need next season as centers Maverick Morgan and Mike Thorne Jr. graduate.

A target Illinois has expressed interest in is 6-foot-11 center Jacob Epperson. The big man from Australia took an unofficial visit with Illinois in late September. Epperson would be a great target for Illinois, I just hope they aren’t too late to the party.

Epperson ranks No. 88 when stacked up amongst American players and has 23 offers according to 247sports.com. He hasn’t made any indication of which way he is leaning, which leaves Illinois in the dark. Maybe head coach John Groce has a flash light handy and can find his way to landing Epperson.

Another target for Illinois to consider is Alonzo Verge Jr. This 6-foot-3 guard is ranked No. 182 on 247sports.com and hails from Villa Park, Illinois. Verge Jr. is fast and a nifty passer and ball handler. I just worry he makes Illinois’ class too guard-heavy.

The Illini need to look into more big men options, especially with some uncertainty within Groce’s class of 2017.

There has been a lot of speculation on five-star center Jeremiah Tilmon who verbally committed to Illinois over the summer. He still has not signed his National Letter of Intent and has one more day to do so for the early signing period. This has resulted in many rumors spiraling around.

The Illini will receive some sort of closure Thursday as Tilmon has scheduled an announcement at 1 p.m. There has been discussion that Tilmon is now considering other schools such as Kansas and Saint Louis.

Tilmon’s mother released a statement to the IlliniInquirer.com in regards to her son not signing yet.

“Just because Jeremiah hasn’t signed in the early period doesn’t mean he’s not committed to Illinois,” the statement said. “Jeremiah has a lot of things going on behind the scenes that take precedence over signing and we do apologize for the commotion.”

This might indicate that maybe Tilmon’s grades are not in good standing or really anything else.

But in the case for the Illini upholding a strong recruiting class, they don’t want Tilmon. They need him.

And if you try, sometimes you find you get what you need.

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@MattGertsmeier