Last offseason, Illinois had its eyes all over Andrej Stojakovic, as he was leaving Cal and instantly became one of the top players in the transfer portal. However, North Carolina and Hubert Davis went all-in to land him, with the Fighting Illini, Tar Heels and Stanford being his finalists.
Brad Underwood explains who Illinois was able to rattle Houston all night
In the end, the Big Ten side came out on top of the major recruiting battle and while it took Stojakovic a while to get going, he's been brilliant in the postseason. We saw that with his 21-point effort against VCU and despite a low-scoring affair in the upset win over Houston, he finished with 13 points off 5-of-8 shooting. Think the Tar Heels could have used him? You bet.
Andrej Stojakovic with a game-high 21 pts off the bench to lead the Fighting Illini to the Sweet 16 🔥
— ESPN (@espn) March 22, 2026
Illinois will face Houston next for a spot in the Elite Eight 👀 pic.twitter.com/0eTHuDtaVz
Andrej Stojakovic is heating up at the right time for Brad Underwood in the NCAA Tournament
Things have been totally different for Illinois and UNC in recent weeks. On one hand, the Fighting Illini are now one win away from reaching the Final Four, with a showdown against Iowa and Ben McCollum in the Elite Eight on the way.
As for North Carolina, it's safe to say they haven't had the same success. The Tar Heels blew a 19-point lead to VCU in the first round and following that embarrassment, head man Hubert Davis was fired. Losing in the first round is never going to cut it and HD found that out the hard way.
The two teams were on a crash course to potentially meet in the second round, but UNC dropped the ball and Illinois had no issues against VCU in their matchup. Stojakovic indeed was brilliant against the Rams, leading the way with his 21 points.
Against Iowa, he's going to be ready to put on a show once again, this time with a trip to the Final Four on the line. No one expected Illinois to get to this point, but the studs are stepping up at the right time for head man Brad Underwood is on his staff. Stojakovic is no question on the list, as he's likely making Tar Heel fans everywhere even more bummed that Davis missed out on him.