Illinois basketball locks in last crucial piece to the 2025-26 season

It has been a busy offseason for the Illinois basketball program, as we have tried to add players who could help elevate the team to great heights.

Brad Underwood did a great job securing talent for the Illini to help replace the likes of Kasparas Jakucionis and Will Riley, among others. All of the new additions will play a big role on the team, but there was one player who had yet to be cleared by the NCAA.

On Monday afternoon, the final domino fell for Illinois. The NCAA cleared incoming guard Mihailo Petrovic.

In the post by the Illinois Men’s Basketball social media account, they announced that Petrovic has been cleared, and they also said the 22-year-old is going to be a sophomore in eligibility status.

The 6-foot-2 point guard didn’t have a ton of recruiting attention, but Illinois went over to Serbia and landed his services. 247Sports ended up marking him down as a four-star recruit, and rightfully so. Petrovic averaged 14.2 points, 7.3 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game last season overseas.

Illinois basketball now stabilizes a backcourt that needed a lead point guard with Mihailo Petrovic

Getting Petrovic on the court won’t be easy, though. While he can step on the court, Petrovic is still dealing with a hamstring injury, per Underwood. That might keep him out for a few games.

Even if Petrovic does miss some time, Illinois will finally have a stable backcourt when he joins the team. The Illini can’t have Kylan Boswell running the point and everything going through him. He is better suited as the No. 2 guard.

Petrovic will take the burden of the point guard duties away from Boswell. He has the ability to facilitate better than Boswell, and Boswell is a better shooter in space. I believe Petrovic will open up a lot of his teammates' games, and he will make them better while on the court.

This is huge news for the Illinois basketball program. We have our point guard locked in; now let’s get him healthy and on the court.