For Dane Van Essen, Illiana Christian basketball is the family business.

So it’s only fitting that the boys basketball team’s newest Van Essen eats, sleeps and breathes the sport.

“When I first started playing basketball, I knew it was something I wanted to do,” Van Essen said. “Then I saw my brothers play, and I think seeing them out there and seeing how much they enjoyed playing, it made me really want to get into it too.

“From there, it kind of just took off for me, and I fell in love with the sport.”

Van Essen, a 6-foot-3 junior guard/forward who leads the Vikings (8-3) with 12.5 points per game, followed his older brothers Logan, Luke and Zeke into the program. Their parents Darren and Janna also played basketball for Illiana Christian. Tom Roozeboom has coached all four brothers.

“Dane is kind of a mix of them,” Tom Roozeboom said. “Defensively, he gets after it, he’s rebounding a lot more this year than he was last season, and, I mean, obviously he can score the ball too. So I think he’s a nice balance of all of them.”

Illiana Christian’s Dane Van Essen, left, drives past Hobart’s Klarc Taylor during a nonconference game in Hobart on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Van Essen’s blend of skills has fueled Illiana Christian’s eight-game winning streak. That run includes a victory over Whitko in the Cougar Classic championship game, after which Van Essen was named to the all-tournament team.

Van Essen helped steady the Vikings in the absence of senior guard Noah Sons, who led the team in scoring last season but has missed multiple games due to injury.

Van Essen’s impact extends beyond the box score, according to junior guard/forward Graeson Roozeboom, his best friend.

“It’s fun to play with him because he makes life easier for everybody,” Graeson Roozeboom said. “When people aren’t driving, he drives and kicks out to other guys, and he can score whenever he wants to.

“Off the court, he encourages everybody. He makes sure we all know what has to go on at practice the next day or what we ought to do to get ready for the game, and he encourages us to hang out and bond as a team.”

Those bonding sessions often include “Fortnite.” Van Essen said he doesn’t fare well but only because he “rarely has time to play video games.”

Graeson Roozeboom also praised Van Essen’s competitive drive and partly credited Van Essen’s father, who is an assistant for the Vikings. But Van Essen said his parents and brothers — whom he called “great role models in life” and “great mentors” — don’t motivate him as much as the desire to raise the standard.

“Last year, I saw what our captains were doing, and not that they did anything wrong, but there were a couple things that I wish they would have done for me when I was a sophomore,” Van Essen said. “So coming into this year, I tried to think about that, and I tried to be the person I would have wanted to have as a leader.”

Illiana Christian’s Dane Van Essen (10) guards Hobart’s Ryan Basham (4) during a nonconference game in Hobart on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (Kyle Telechan / Post-Tribune)

Van Essen makes that look easy, according to Tom Roozeboom.

“He’s just a connoisseur of the game,” Tom Roozeboom said. “He asks questions other players wouldn’t ask, and I get to see him in the hallway interacting with other people, and I know how studious he is.

“So just being able to witness a student-athlete, I mean a true student-athlete, succeed at the athletic level, but also in the classroom, I think it kind of typifies him as a person.”

Noah Poser is a freelance reporter.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/01/12/basketball-illiana-christian-dane-van-essen/