The 2025 Illinois basketball team has considerable potential to make a significant impact in the Big Ten and nationally, especially after its win over Texas Tech. One of the reasons is the emergence of all the European players they have brought to the team over the last two seasons. Their biggest key, Tomislav Ivisic, has emerged as their best player this year, but he was injured and has missed the previous two games for Illinois.
Illinois basketball head coach Brad Underwood told the media that Tomislav Ivisic's injury, which he suffered in practice, is a more complex issue for him to overcome before he can return to the court. He needs to get back into conditioning shape for the Fighting Illini, and as a result, he will miss Illinois' game against Colgate on Friday.
Underwood said on Friday that Ivisic's injury is not season-ending but that he expected the All-Big Ten center to “miss a little bit.”
“The one thing I know about Tomi: he's maybe as tough as any kid that I've coached,” Underwood said on Friday. “He's going to do everything in his power to be back as soon as he can, so I don't put anything by him.”
When asked about a timeline for Ivisic's return, Underwood shrugged and said, “Just treatments, rest, and whatever they do.”
The only timeline Underwood has provided previously on Ivisic is that it is not a season-ending injury.
The Fighting Illini are dealing with a few injury issues to start the year, as Ivisic is not the only one missing time for them; Mihailo Petrovic is also dealing with a hamstring injury.
Petrovic was listed as “questionable” on Illinois' availability report. He did not play, but he went through the pre-game warm-up. Still, Underwood was encouraged by what he saw from Petrovic.
“He's getting closer,” Underwood said. “It's important that he get the feel of warm-ups and the pregame routine, because it's the first time he's done that. He was a partial participant (Monday) in practice, which is a good sign, and he was fine doing it. So we'll see how these next couple days go with him.”
Illinois is 3-0 after beating Texas Tech, 81-77, on Tuesday at home in a big win, but they need Ivisic back to compete. While Petrovic seems likely to return soon, it will be more questionable for Ivisic. One of the biggest keys for Illinois with Ivisic out is Andrej Stojakovic, who was massive down the stretch against Texas Tech.
