The Brad Underwood era of Illinois basketball has been incredibly fun.
It all starts with winning. Before Underwood, the Illini were lucky to be on the bubble. Since he took over, every year we make the NCAA tournament.
Two years ago, we cracked the second weekend and made it to the Elite 8. That was the first time we had advanced past the Round of 32 since 2005. Well, we are doing it again. Illinois is now going back to the Sweet 16.
What makes this run even more fun is the fact that the first two rounds featured two of the greatest performances I have ever seen for the Illini in the NCAA tournament.
David Mirkovic’s showing against Penn was incredible. He finished with 29 points, 17 rebounds, and three assists. His follow-up game was quiet, though. While he broke records in the first round matchup, his Round of 32 performance only had him logging seven points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Illinois needed another big night from a player. With Mirkovic going quiet, we needed someone else to put on the cape.
Andrej Stojakovic answered the bell.
Stojakovic’s year has been a roller coaster. He has had some great moments, but after the injury, he was relegated to the bench. It took him a while to start gelling in this new role, and what we saw on Saturday night against VCU was the culmination of the past month or so.
Illinois had to have a great night from someone, and Stojakovic took the reins. He finished the game with 21 points, four rebounds, one assist, and one block. His 7-of-12 from the field was incredibly efficient.
Stojakovic wasn’t settling for three-pointers. He wasn’t trying to be someone he is not. He continuously drove the lane, and this set the tone early on in the first half.
VCU struggled with Stojakovic’s physical size, too. He is hard to stop once he gets going downhill, and his ability to take contact and still get the ball to the rim was amazing.
And let this sink in for a moment. Stojakovic has played in 92 games in his college career. He has scored over 21 points in just 14 of those games. He saved one of the best games of his life at a time when Illinois needed it the most. Big-time players show up in big-time games.
There is plenty of experience on the Illinois basketball team, and it is about time they stepped up
Stojakovic was knocking on the door of the top 10 NCAA tournament scoring games in Illinois history. There are only 16 Illinois players to ever score 20 points in the NCAA tournament. Just think about that for a second. There have been so many great players, and Stojakovic just passed a lot of them in single-game scoring.
This was a long time coming, though. Illinois has leaned on our freshmen so many times this season, and it is about time the experienced players come through.
Kylan Boswell, Tomislav Ivisic, and other upperclassmen had solid games, but it was Stojakovic who was the cream of the crop. Illinois had to have our experience come through in the big moment, and Stojakovic put the team on his back.