Illinois basketball suffers first transfer portal loss of 2026 offseason

Illinois basketball guard Mihailo Petrovic has entered the transfer portal per ESPN’s Jonathan Givony. The 23 year old Serbian point guard was a heralded recruiting win and was expected to play a major role for the Illini. However, Petrovic arrived to campus late in the summer and subsequently suffered hamstring and ankle injuries that kept him out of practice and the first few games of the season. He returned and was starting to gain a role, however, Keaton Wagler‘s dominance simply did not allow for a ball-dominant guard like Petrovic to find a role. In the end, Petrovic was used sparingly and averaged 1.6 points per game in 19 games. His season high was 12 points in a home game vs UTRGV

What it means?

Mihailo Petrovic fell out of the rotation and it seemed like the best for both parties to move on from one another. To Petrovic’s credit, he was supposedly a great teammate and well-liked in the locker room despite playing the complete opposite role that he had expected to play with Illinois basketball. At 23 years old, Petrovic will have 2 more years of NCAA eligibility, but he will likely just go back to the Adriatic league where he was an MVP candidate. For Illinois, they are bringing in talented guards like Quentin Coleman, Lucas Morillo and Ethan Brown to play for minutes in the back court. Additionally, the Illini are heavily pursuing Wisconsin transfer John Blackwell.

Blackwell released a top 6 including Duke, Illinois, UCLA,  Alabama, Arizona, and Louisville. Also, Illinois seems to be heavily recruiting Providence transfer Stefan Vaaks.

Petrovic is the first player from the Illini program to announce his intent to transfer. As the portal nears a close on April 21st, expect some more news to come in the coming weeks.

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