On Monday, Minnesota men's basketball added Western Michigan guard Chansey Willis Jr. to their 2025-26 roster. Willis Jr. comes to Minneapolis with one year of eligibility after spending time at Western Michigan, Henry Ford College (JUCO), and Saginaw Valley (Division II).
In his lone season with Western Michigan, Willis Jr. earned All-MAC honors thanks to averaging 16.8 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game.
Here's what to know about the Gophers' newest guard:
1. What Niko Medved had to say about Willis
"Chansey is a great playmaker who makes others around him better," Medved said in a program press release. "He is a dynamic scorer who can use his speed to his advantage. In addition, he's a great two-way player and we're excited to have him on our team."
2. Willis is a volume shooter
This part of Willis's game could and will likely change next season, but in his lone season with Western Michigan, Willis was a volume shooter. The Detroit, Michigan native attempted 14 shots per game and made, on average, six per game, a shooting percentage of 42.4%.
When looking at his 24 games played, Willis Jr. had 20 games in which he attempted at least 10 shots. He also had 10 games of at least 15 shots and three games of at least 20 shots.
There were games in which he was excellent in terms of his shooting percentage, with nine games of over 50%. He also had his fair share of clunkers, with 10 games shooting below 40% and seven under 35%.
Overall, Willis is a quality but nothing more shooter when it comes to his shooting percentage at 42.4%. His three-point shooting was especially rough this past fall at 28.4%. That being said, at the free-throw line, he gets the job done more often than not, with a free-throw percentage of 72.4%.
3. Willis does a tremendous job at moving the ball
While Willis is a volume shooter, he also does a great job of keeping the ball moving and putting his teammates in situations to be successful. This past season for Western Michigan, Willis led the MAC with 5.8 assists per game, which also ranked top-25 in the country. His assist percentage of 38.1% also ranked second in the MAC and 13th nationally.
While last season was his lone season at the Division I level, Willis has shown at his previous stops that he’s consistently one of the best passers in college basketball, recording 7.0 assists in 2023-24 at Henry Ford College and 4.8 assists per game at Saginaw Valley State in 2022-23.
4. Rebounding and defensviely
When it comes to Willis's ability to rebound and defend, he's solid as a rebounder while adequate defensively. This past season, he averaged 4.3 rebounds per game, including 3.8 defensive rebounds per contest. When considering his 16.8 points per game and 5.8 assists per game, Willis's rebounding efforts this season made him one of just 13 players in college basketball last season to record at least 15 points, 5 assists, and 4 rebounds per game.
Defensively, Willis does a good job of creating turnovers, including recording 1.7 steals per game, which ranked fifth in the MAC this past season. He also recorded a 0.8 defensive win share on the year. Willis won't be a dynamic defender for the Gophers, but overall, he shouldn't be a defensive liability, either.
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