Since he was brought to town in 2017, Brad Underwood has found ways to build winning teams and has gotten Illinois back into regular contention. In recent years that’s been star players like Kofi Cockburn, Ayo Dosunmu, and Terrence Shannon Jr., with the latest crop taking last year’s squad to their fifth straight trip to the Big Dance. However, as things go in the current state of this sport, the Fighting Illini will look quite different next season.
This past season that star power came in the form of freshmen Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, though they’re both off to the NBA and bigger things. The program lost a few other notable players, including Morez Johnson and Tre White, but didn’t exactly face an empty cupboard. Illinois gets Kylan Boswell back to run the point as a senior while 7-footer Tomislav Ivisic will have a second season in Champaign and be joined by a familiar face.
There will certainly be more of an international flair for the Illini this upcoming season, even after seeing Jakucionis become a first round draft pick. A talented freshmen class included Serbian point guard Mihailo Petrovic and fellow Serb David Mirkovic, a power forward, but we’re not thinking about freshmen right now. The familiar face mentioned above is none other than Zvonimir Ivisic, a fellow 7-footer and the twin brother of the Illini’s returning big man.
However, there’s an even more notable addition to the roster from the portal and it’s yet another player with an international flair. Andrej Stojakovic is a 6-7 guard from California whose father played in the NBA and who asserted himself as a Top 25 prospect two seasons ago. Stojakovic spent a season apiece out west at Stanford and California, averaging 17.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game as a sophomore with the Golden Bears in the ACC.
A myriad of new faces join the picture for an Illinois team that could have another successful season but it’s clear that Stojakovic stands out among the group. For starters, he has the most experience of their new players among this crop of new freshmen. He put up significant numbers and had a demonstrated step forward in his second collegiate season. Not only was he sixth in the conference in points per game, Stojakovic was named to the ACC All-Tournament team for his excellent play in March.
There’s no direct replacement for what Illinois lost in Jakucionis but Stojakovic is a major addition that should slide into a huge role for this team. He’s a scorer and a facilitator and also had decent shot blocking numbers for a guard. If Stojakovic can take a measured step forward not only as an athlete but as a veteran leader then he can help facilitate another special season in Champaign, something beyond just a sixth straight March Madness appearance.