2025-26 Big Ten basketball season preview: Illinois Fighting Illini

With the start of college basketball season in early November, Inside the Hall is taking a team-by-team look at the Big Ten and a player-by-player look at IU basketball’s roster.

Today, our team previews continue with Illinois.

Previously: Penn State, Rutgers, Minnesota, Northwestern, Washington, Nebraska, Maryland, Iowa, Wisconsin, Oregon, USC, Michigan State, Ohio State, UCLA

The most difficult Big Ten team to project entering the 2025-26 season might be Illinois.

After a 22-13 season last winter that ended with a second round NCAA tournament loss to Kentucky, the Fighting Illini lost several key contributors. Among them: NBA draft picks Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, along with Morez Johnson Jr., Tre White and Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, who all entered the transfer portal.

A pair of key returnees will provide Brad Underwood with a solid foundation in Champaign.

Junior big man Tomislav Ivisic was one of the top newcomers in the conference last season. The Croatian big man averaged 13 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.2 blocked shots in 26.8 minutes per game. Ivisic, who can score at the rim, from the midrange or from the perimeter, shot 35.7 percent on 3s last season.

The other returning starter for Underwood is senior guard Kylan Boswell, who spent his first two seasons at Arizona before transferring home to Champaign prior to last season. A two-way player who is a strong defender, Boswell averaged a solid 12.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 31 minutes per game. However, the 6-foot-2 guard struggled with his perimeter shot and made just 24.5 percent of his triples last season.

The point guard position vacated by Jakucionis will be taken over by Serbian guard Mihailo Petrovic, a 22-year-old who has been playing professionally since the age of 16. Petrovic wasn’t able to practice with Illinois until late August, so he’ll have ground to make up this fall with his new teammates. But the 6-foot-3 guard has been described as “electric” by Underwood and while he’s a newcomer to college basketball, his age and physical maturity should make him a plug-and-play option from day one. As of now, Petrovic hasn’t been officially cleared to play by the NCAA, but Illinois is hopeful he’ll be available when the season begins.

The Fighting Illini also added Cal transfer Andrej Stojakovic, a 6-foot-7 wing who was one of the top scorers in the ACC last season. The son of former NBA star Peja Stojakovic, Andrej is a better athlete than his father and a more pure scorer than a shooter. Stojakovic, who is working his way back from a knee injury, averaged 17.7 points last season for the Bears. He has a solid midrange game and is a capable finisher at the rim against length.

Illinois also added Tomislav Ivisic’s older brother, Zvonimir, who began his career at Kentucky before playing at Arkansas last season. “Big Z,” a 7-foot-2 center, can stretch the floor and shoot the 3-pointer like his younger brother. Ivisic made 37.6 percent of his triples last season for the Razorbacks and should have instant chemistry with his brother.

Graduate student Ben Humrichous had an up-and-down season last winter following his transfer from Evansville. The Indiana native began his career at the NAIA level and should be more comfortable with the athleticism and physicality of the Big Ten after last season’s experience. The 6-foot-10 Humrichous shot 34.3 percent on 3s last season and has reportedly done a lot of work on his body in the offseason.

Freshman David Mirkovic, a native of Montenegro, is a 6-foot-9 forward who scored eight points for the World team in last spring’s Nike Hoop Summit. Like Petrovic, he wasn’t on campus for summer workouts, so fall practice will be important in getting him up to speed ahead of the season. However, he’s already on the NBA radar due to his unique combination of size, ball handling, passing and shooting ability.

Ty Rogers, who redshirted last season, is back, but his status is uncertain after an offseason knee injury. The 6-foot-6 Rodgers has excellent size for a guard and averaged 5.3 points in 22.7 minutes per game as a freshman back in the 2023-24 season. If healthy, Rodgers will be a factor in the guard rotation.

Illinois also returns guard Jake Davis, an Indiana native who transferred to Champaign from Mercer before last season. Perimeter shooting is the specialty for the 6-foot-6 Davis, who is a career 38.6 percent 3-point shooter.

Other potential rotation pieces include freshman guards Keaton Wagler and Brandon Lee. The 6-foot-6 Wagler, a product of Shawnee Mission Northwest High School in Kansas, was a four-star recruit in the 2025 class, according to 247Sports. Meanwhile, the 6-foot-4 Lee is known for his shooting and scoring abilities. He amassed over 2,000 career points at the Patrick School in New Jersey in his prep career.

Talent is clearly not an issue for Illinois. Still, the Fighting Illini have several new pieces to integrate and a significant number of international players, who are challenging to project.

Bottom line: The Fighting Illini are No. 7 nationally in Bart Torvik’s preseason projections, which seems like a best-case scenario where everything goes right. Petrovic has enormous shoes to fill in the backcourt and the Illinois defense must be significantly better than it was a season ago. Tomislav Ivisic has All-Big Ten potential, Stojakovic should be one of the league’s best wing scorers and Boswell is a hard-nosed guard who will bring experience and leadership.

Quotable: “We’re still going through the process with Mihailo. Everything’s moving, it’s just been a later process for him for things that were uncontrollable by everybody, because of things that were going on in Belgrade, Serbia at that time, that still are. We’ve done everything we can.” – Underwood on the status of Petrovic for the upcoming season.

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