I’m excited to meet all of the new people on the team and to make new friendships. I hope that we can win a lot of games and I’m hoping to be whatever the team and our coach needs me to be.”

Eli Luxton

Rochelle basketball standout Eli Luxton earned Interstate 8 honors over each of his last two seasons with the Hubs. The 6-foot-5 guard will be continuing his career at the collegiate level after signing earlier this summer with Kishwaukee College, where he will study engineering. 

“I think Kish is a good fit for me because it’s close to home and I know a lot of people who go there,” Luxton said. “I’ve been talking with their coach for a while and he seems pretty nice. I’m not ready to be done with basketball and I feel like I’m capable of playing more. I’m excited to meet all of the new people on the team and to make new friendships. I hope that we can win a lot of games and I’m hoping to be whatever the team and our coach needs me to be.”

Luxton spent four years with the Rochelle Hub basketball program and three years with the varsity team. As a sophomore, Luxton came off the bench and provided perimeter shooting, helping Rochelle win the Interstate 8 Conference title as well as an IHSA Regional crown. Luxton emerged during his junior season, when he earned First-Team All-Interstate 8 honors after averaging 16.0 points and 8.3 rebounds for the Hubs during the 2022-23 campaign.

“I feel like I’m prepared to play college basketball because I know what it means to be a leader and a good teammate,” Luxton said. “Rochelle taught me how to be a good teammate and how to do all of the little things right. I think the area I improved the most was my confidence. I wasn’t very confident in myself as a freshman because I just started playing. I wasn’t very confident as a sophomore either, but my confidence increased a lot as a junior and as a senior.”

Luxton was named an All-Interstate 8 Honorable Mention during his senior season, when he averaged 14.2 points and 6.6 rebounds while eclipsing 1,000 career points at the varsity level. Luxton, who received Rochelle’s Hackett MVP Award over each of his last two seasons and was also named the Hoffman Rebounding Award winner during his junior season, was a three-sport athlete at RTHS, spending one year with the tennis team and one year with the track team.

“It was a pleasure coaching Eli for three years,” Rochelle head coach Tim Thompson said. “He was a 1,000-point scorer and a regional champion.  He is a fantastic athlete who has a knack for the ball. He’s a tremendous rebounder and his best years of basketball are ahead of him.”