March 29, 2025 Local Stories in and Around St. Joseph, Illinois

Pence looks to the future with scholarship offers


By Jim Cotter

Growing up in the shadows of the University of Illinois, it was always a dream for Ty Pence to play basketball for the flagship school in the state.

Pence, a junior in the Class of 2023, has been elevating his game and took the first of many unofficial visits to Illinois last month where he visited with Assistant Coach Chester Frazier. He received an offer the next day.

“I’ve always held Illinois as somewhat of a dream school for me, since it’s so close to home and it means a lot for me and my family to get an offer,” he said.

“He (Frazier) had heard of me when he was at Virginia Tech, but now that he is back at Illinois, I’m sure that those communications will ramp up when they are able to. With the restrictions in place, a lot of coaches have not been able to see us play live, but that should be changing once the summer AAU season begins in July,” Pence said.

During his time on campus, Pence and his family toured the Ubben practice facility and saw a video on the renovations to the building, which have been appropriated at nearly $40 million.

“They showed us what the building is going to look like when it is finished, and it will have many amenities for the student-athletes not only for practice facilities, but for nutrition and replenishment of training regimens,” Pence said.

Pence jumped on the scene during his eight- grade year when some videos surfaced of him dunking a basketball at St. Joseph Middle School, where his father, Todd, also is superintendent. Pence credits those videos for getting him noticed and where he is at today.

“I think those videos of me helped get me on the AAU team that I’m currently on. We have a lot of talent on our team and last month at a tournament in Dallas, we had a really good three days of games that generated a lot of notoriety with our program,” Pence said.

Pence plays with Mid Pro Academy, which is a merger of the Illini Irish and the Quad City Elite. Mid Pro Academy is based out of Peoria and competes in the NY2LA circuit. They feature such talent as Ethan Kizer from Metamora and Owen Freeman from Bradley-Bourbonnais, who currently holds an offer from Illinois as well.

“Having scouts and other people watching my teammates is beneficial for me because even though they may not be there specifically watching me, knowing that they are there or watching on video might get me some recognition that will be meaningful down the road as I improve my game,” Pence said.

With Pence still in high school baseball mode on a potential state-bound team, his AAU coach has decided to not play in any tournaments during the month of June to let the members of the team focus on their high school competitions. However, those tournaments will ramp back up in July as the evaluation period kicks into high gear.

Pence, who fashions himself as a two guard, likes to stay busy away from the court, and will work mowing jobs during the summer, as well as help his older brother Jake, who buys and sells rental properties around the Midwest.

“Right now, I have most of my days open, so I want to try and stay busy and make some money and be successful in life other than basketball,” Pence said.

Regarding what he wants to work on in his game, Pence is continuing to improve his ballhandling and rebounding skills, as well as work on his defense, something he knows could always use some adjustment.

“I worked a lot on my ballhandling skills from my freshman to sophomore year of high school, and during the AAU circuit, just improving on those things plus working on being a better defensive player is something that I want to focus on,” Pence said about what he is focusing on to improve his game further.

Shortly after his scholarship offer to play at Illinois, Pence received a second offer from another in-state school in close proximity to St. Joseph, Eastern Illinois University in nearby Charleston and new head coach Marty Simmons. Simmons hopes to revive the Panthers program and bring it back to respectability in the Ohio Valley Conference. EIU’s current athletic director, Tom Michael, is a former resident of St. Joseph that is undoubtedly familiar with the Pence family, having seen his kids go through school at St. Joseph-Ogden with Ty’s siblings, older brother Jake and sister Kenzie. Pence’s mom, Kendra, is also a noted photographer and is often seen at Ty’s games taking pictures for various social media platforms.

Pence also has offers from the University of Illinois at Chicago, DePaul, Illinois State, Bradley and Akron.

Photo by the News-Gazette

Banner
Related Posts

Get to know SJO Volleyball player Emma Ward

October 31, 2022

October 31, 2022

What do you think makes the team so successful? Our ability to work well together What is your favorite thing...

Immke, Acton get SJO softball back on winning note

April 18, 2023

April 18, 2023

Some high-scoring offensive outbursts. Some tough, disappointing losses to handle. The first month of the season has featured both of...

Cain, Pence help SJO boys’ basketball post two wins

January 27, 2020

January 27, 2020

Playing a competitive nonconference schedule is nothing new for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School boys’ basketball team. The Spartans face...

Dukeman, Martlage help SJO softball get back to winning streak

April 29, 2019

April 29, 2019

Challenging road games await the St. Joseph-Ogden High School softball team at the start of this week. But the Spartans...

Scholarship honors, remembers Dick Duval: ‘His legend will live on in St. Joe’

October 5, 2021

October 5, 2021

If you want to know who Dick Duval truly was, all you have to do is ask St. Joseph-Ogden Superintendent...

Franzen, Knap pace SJO girls’ cross-country at Spartan Classic

October 1, 2021

October 1, 2021

The St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ cross-country team had a strong showing at the Spartan Classic this past Saturday. SJO...

Knott, sprint relay shine at GCMS Invitational

April 24, 2019

April 24, 2019

The St. Joseph-Ogden High School boys’ track and field team went two weeks in between competitions. Blame Mother Nature for...

Showdown at BHRA on tap for SJO boys’ basketball

December 16, 2024

December 16, 2024

The St. Joseph-Ogden and Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin boys’ basketball teams are familiar with each other. That’s because the two tradition-rich programs typically...

Get to know SJO Volleyball player Chloe harper

October 31, 2022

October 31, 2022

What do you think makes the team so successful? I think the motivation and fight our team has is what...

5 Question Friday with Charlie Mabry

September 10, 2021

September 10, 2021

Every Friday we are going to ask an athlete to answer five questions. This week we talked to Charlie Mabry....

Plotner and Bagby lead Spartans to second place showing

April 5, 2019

April 5, 2019

The St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ track and field team began the outdoor season with a runner-up showing at a...

SJO girls’ basketball vies for sectional title tonight

February 14, 2019

February 14, 2019

Win on Thursday night and the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ basketball team achieves a milestone only one other team...

Hamilton, relay team place first at conference meet for Spartans

May 2, 2019

May 2, 2019

The intensity of a postseason meet is right around the corner for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School girls’ track and...

Smith, Spartans on roll entering playoffs

October 29, 2022

October 29, 2022

Hosting home football playoff games became common for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School football team in the past. In fact,...

Brazelton, SJO wrestling off to solid start

December 14, 2023

December 14, 2023

A relatively young St. Joseph-Ogden wrestling team is faring well through the first two weeks of the season. The Spartans...

Comments
Leave a Reply