No. 18 Illinois trying to regain its mojo with big man Tomislav Ivisic out indefinitely

 

[February 01, 2025]  By ERIC OLSON

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Illinois flipped its roster after making a run to the Elite Eight, and coach Brad Underwood knew there would be highs and lows navigating the season with the second-youngest team in the Power Four.

The 18th-ranked Illini (14-7, 6-4 Big Ten) have hit a rough patch. Their 80-74 overtime loss at Nebraska on Thursday night was their fourth setback in six games.

They started 12-3, with one of the losses to then-No. 8 Alabama and a maddening one at the final buzzer to then-No. 1 Tennessee. Three weeks ago they were ranked No. 13, and Underwood told reporters his team was capable of making another deep postseason run.

“It's frustrating for me,” he said after the loss to Nebraska, “because I know where we can be and what we were getting to.”

The Illini have played three straight games without 7-foot-1, 255-pound sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic, who's out indefinitely with mononucleosis. He's the team's second-leading scorer at 13 points per game and the top rebounder at 8.5 per game. The 6-9, 255-pound Morez Johnson Jr. has been starting in Ivisic's place.

“It's big for sure,” sophomore guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn said of Ivisic's absence. “Tomi is a great player. He's one of our starting guys, one of our best players for sure. That's not an excuse. We have to have the next-man-up mentality.”

Kasparas Jakucionis, the star freshman point guard, missed two games earlier this month with a left wrist injury. He's the leading scorer with 15.9 points per game and he's shooting a team-best 37.5% on 3-pointers.

Will Riley, another promising freshman, got the flu and didn't play much in a 91-70 loss to Maryland last week.

“I don't know when we'll get whole again,” Underwood said. "Tomi is a big piece of what we do and Morez was becoming that. We have the No. 1 defense in the country when those two are on the floor together.

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood, right, speaks to a referee, left, as his team plays against Nebraska during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Lincoln, Neb. (AP Photo/Rebecca S. Gratz)

“You have 7-1, 250 and quite arguably our second-best shooter — maybe our best shooter now — out of the lineup. And we know how he can pass. We’ve got to get back to that.”

The lineup shuffle has disrupted the offense. They've shot 25% on 3-pointers (48 of 190) and averaged 13 turnovers over the last six games.

Underwood said many of the turnovers are inexcusable because they're the result of players disregarding scouting reports and forcing ill-advised passes. Against Nebraska, multiple passes were thrown into the teeth of the defense.

“Grow up. Grow up,” Underwood said, his voice rising. “I would like to have an explanation. We had four scouting report (turnovers) where we told our guys you’re not going to throw the baseline pass, and we continually tried to do that. Tonight was very uncharacteristic of us from a scouting report standpoint, making those turnovers. You're not going to beat anybody doing that.”

Thursday began a stretch of three of four games on the road over 10 days. The Illini host Ohio State on Sunday, then visit Rutgers and Minnesota. All three of those teams are under .500 in Big Ten play.

“I feel like with this team, we're going to go on our little slumps,” Riley said. “We're very young. I feel like we're getting more consistent as the days go. We're onto the next game. We're going to come out with high intensity, high effort.”

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