Illinois Basketball Availability Updates Ahead of Michigan State Game

With Tre White (flu) and Tomislav Ivisic (ankle) still recovering, here's the latest on Illini availability for Saturday

Jan 23, 2025; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Tre White (22) drives to the basket as Maryland Terrapins guard Selton Miguel (9) defends during the second half at State Farm Center. Mandatory Credit: Ron Johnson-Imagn Images | Ron Johnson-Imagn Images

Things went so well for Illinois (17-8, 9-6 Big Ten) in Tuesday's 83-78 win over UCLA that it could have been easy to overlook that the roster still isn't yet at full strength. With No. 11 Michigan State (19-5, 10-3) on deck Saturday at the State Farm Center in Champaign (7 p.m. CT, on FOX), a quick status check is in order.

The Illini may finally be over the flu bug that made its way through the locker room in recent weeks, either slowing or sidelining several key contributors. Will Riley, who followed a two-game blip by averaging 19.8 points and playing at least 30 minutes in each of the past four games, seems to have been least affected by the issue.

Guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn has played sparingly each of the past two games (four minutes at Minnesota and seven against UCLA) after earning his first two career starts and earning at least 20 minutes in 11 consecutive games. As coach Brad Underwood said after the Bruins win, "We'll slowly get those guys worked back in."

Included in that group was swingman Tre White, who missed the UCLA game and (essentially) the Minnesota matchup, too. "We've had some conversations with Tre, and he's back healthy, which is good," Underwood said at his Friday press conference. "But we're at the point of the year where we're going to put guys out there that play well together and help us fit."

Center Tomislav Ivisic has put his bout of mono behind him, but he's still feeling the effects of an ankle sprain in the Rutgers game. You wouldn't know it from his production over the past two games (a combined 34 points, 18 rebounds and 6-for-8 three-point shooting), but Ivisic had been held out of practice until Thursday.

Tomislac Ivisic is up to 4️⃣ 3-pointers tonight 🎯#B1GMBBall on Peacock 💻 pic.twitter.com/U3QzP4ayMM

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 12, 2025

"He was very restricted yesterday," Underwood said. "There's still good amount of swelling."

But Underwood said Ivisic would practice Friday and is expected to be unrestricted for the Spartans on Saturday.

"We're gonna try to win," he said. "I'm gonna try to put the best guys out there that fit."

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