The eastern European movement in Champaign, Illinois took a step forward on Monday when the NCAA cleared Illini men's basketball's Mihailo Petrovic to play.

A point guard who has not yet played college basketball, Petrovic is classified as a sophomore with three years of eligibility, Illinois announced.

The Illini will open the regular season on Monday, November 3 against Jackson State at home, but head coach Brad Underwood told reporters last week that Petrovic is recovering from a hamstring injury, making his availability uncertain.

Petrovic comes to Illinois from Serbia, where he played for KK Mega Basket, averaging 14.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 7.3 assists per game.

“Mihailo is the consummate point guard,” Underwood said in a July release. “He has a great understanding of how the game is played. He has tremendous speed, and, being a little bit older, also has a physicality about him which we like and is needed in the Big Ten. He excels in ball screens and has all the finishes; that is a big part of his game. Mihailo has been a prolific scorer at times, or a great facilitator when needed; he takes what the game gives him. We are excited to add someone with his talent, experience, and maturity to our backcourt.”

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Petrovic is one of four players on the Illini roster from the Balkans (five if you include transfer Andrej Stojakovic, whose father, former NBA All-Star Peja Stojakovic, is from Croatia), a far-flung part of the recruiting trail that Underwood has embraced.

When Stojakovic committed in April out of the transfer portal, Underwood poked fun at the trend, changing his profile picture on X to an AI photo of himself that looked to be straight out of Grand Theft Auto IV.

“Today in college basketball: The head coach of Illinois is posting AI-rendered images of himself in Balkan Cold War-era aesthetic after he landed a fifth commitment from player whose last name ends in ‘ic,'” CBS Sports' Matt Norlander wrote at the time in a quoted post of Underwood's new pic.