Basketball
Illinois Basketball To Miss Tomislav Ivisic and More vs Texas Tech
How healthy will the Fighting Illini be in Tuesday’s massive showdown with Texas Tech?
On Tuesday (11/11), Illinois Basketball hosts No. 11 Texas Tech in Champaign for a primetime top-15 non-conference showdown, with a packed house expected to be on hand, for what is sure to be an electric environment at the State Farm Center for a 7:30 tipoff. Both programs are off to a clean 2‑0 start, making this the first significant test thus far for the 14th-ranked Illini, who will look to solidify their position as an early top-15 team and spark momentum ahead of a daunting non-conference and Big Ten schedule slate.
A major storyline to keep an eye on as this highly anticipated matchup approaches is how the injury bug has recently affected both the Red Raiders and the Fighting Illini.
For Texas Tech, early injuries that have sidelined impact players like star forward JT Toppin, sophomore Josiah Moseley, and sophomore Luke Bamgboye have left the Red Raiders’ frontcourt thin. However, Toppin has since returned to the floor for the Red Raiders, and in his season debut against Sam Houston State on 11/7, he posted 31 points and 14 rebounds in the 98‑77 victory. His return will undoubtedly be a major test for Zvonimir Ivisic, who is expected to take on a larger role while his twin brother, Tomislav, continues to recover from a knee injury.
For Brad Underwood’s crew, the injury report continues to grow. “We’re still not anywhere close to full strength,” the Illini head coach told the media on Monday (11/10). “We’ll just play with the guys we’ve got and know we’ve got to compete.”
Who will Illinois have available against Texas Tech? Brad Underwood breaks down the roster’s current outlook ahead of Tuesday’s showdown.
Illinois Basketball Injury Update, per Brad Underwood
Underwood opened, “They’ve (Texas Tech) had some of the same issues we’ve had with some injuries and guys missing practice.”
Starting with the good news, Underwood confirmed that freshman Andrej Stojaković has returned to practice after a brief setback. “We had Andrej in practice,” he said. “He survived the other night and was in a good spot.”
Unfortunately, however, the rest of the Illini’s injury list continues to grow—something Underwood and his staff are working desperately to get ahead of.
“Tomi’s (Ivisic) obviously out,” Underwood said. The Illini’s talented 7-footer recently suffered a knee injury that Underwood previously told reporters wasn’t detrimental to his season. However, the head coach reported last week, “I would expect him (Tomislav) to miss a little bit.” For the time being, his twin brother “Big Z” will be asked to shoulder more of the load in the frontcourt.
Freshman forward Brandon Lee will also remain unavailable after suffering a severe left ankle sprain in practice prior to the Illini’s season opener against Jackson State. “Brandon’s still out,” Underwood confirmed.
Luckily, there’s a bit more optimism surrounding Mihailo Petrovic. The talented freshman has begun working his way back into practice, according to the Illini head coach. “Mihailo is on his work back in… a couple of days of partial work in practice. He’ll probably be in a uniform [vs Texas Tech]. We’ll see how it reacts again today. He’s been in 7 practices out of 31 or 32… so there’s a progression to getting that back.”
Finally, Underwood confirmed that Ty Rodgers continues to be out indefinitely with a knee injury.
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