Andrej Stojakovic credits Brad Underwood and staff for accountability

Andrej Stojakovic has had a winding journey in his college basketball career. As a five-star prospect, he started his career at Stanford, where he played for a rather talented team. Stojakovic played in all 32 games on a team that went 14-18 overall and had its coach, Jerod Haase, fired. He then transferred to Cal to play for first-year head coach, Mark Madsen. Andrej’s game took a step up; however, Cal ended up 14-18. After deciding to transfer, Stojakovic left the West Coast to join Illinois. Certainly, it was a new journey for the Carmichael, California native.

However, with at least 15 games left in the Illini season, Brad Underwood and Illinois are 13-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play. They have consistently sat within the top-15 of all analytic sites and are in the thick of a very competitive Big Ten race. Andrej Stojakovic is not the focal point of the team, but he plays a major role and has bought into that role extremely well. In an 11 am tip vs the Iowa Hawkeyes, Stojakovic set the tone early with his intensity and drives to the basket. Afterward, he credited Brad Underwood and his staff for the way his game has evolved.

Accountability

Stojakovic shared, “In the past, I’ve been allowed to make more mistakes. Underwood, his staff, and my teammates have allowed me to play more calmly and value each possession more.” In Andrej’s second game of the season, we all saw what he was capable of. He had 23 points vs Texas Tech and essentially willed the Illini to a major victory. However, since then, Andrej has played complementary basketball, which has helped the Illini catch a bit of a hot streak. He is rebounding the ball at a far better clip and is playing a lot better team defense. We’ve seen Brad Underwood challenge Andrej in press conferences, and Andrej has responded.

The former five-star prospect and McDonald’s All-American will always be tied to his father, Peja’s name, for as long as he plays basketball. But now, he is blazing his own path as a key glue piece to one of the best teams in the Big Ten conference.

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