Injury Updates for Mihailo Petrovic, Brandon Lee Ahead of Illinois-Colgate

The injuries have piled up on the Illinois men's basketball team early this season, but it seemingly hasn't slowed down the No. 14 Illini (3-0) even a tick through their first three games. If Tuesday's 81-77 win over No. 11 Texas Tech is any indication of what this club can do when short-staffed – center Tomislav Ivisic, point guard Mihailo Petrovic and wings Ty Rodgers and Brandon Lee sat out against the Red Raiders – things are going to get really interesting when the Illini get all their reinforcements back in the fold.

In the meantime, we know that Ivisic (knee) and Rodgers (knee) will both miss more time and are unavailable for Friday's game against Colgate (8 p.m. CT, B1G+) at the State Farm Center in Champaign. What else do we know now that the the Illini have released their availability report within the prescribed two hours before game time?

Updates for Mihailo Petrovic and Brandon Lee?

If no news really is good news, then ... you're welcome? Unfortunately, the availability report gave nothing away – Petrovic and Lee are both listed as questionable, which was essentially all we knew coming off the Texas Tech game. We'll know more at tipoff if, say, Petrovic starts (unlikely), but we can't even be sure about the playing status of the duo until after the game. Both may suit up and stand by ready to play, yet still wind up spending 40 minutes on the sideline as a precaution against reaggravating either's injury in a game the Illini should be able to handle with the healthy bodies currently on hand.

Nothing new to report on availability/injuries for Illinois tonight against Colgate. As expected, Tomislav Ivisic and Ty Rodgers are out, and Mihailo Petrovic and Brandon Lee are questionable. We'll know more at tipoff. pic.twitter.com/voMT3bhAuG
— Jason Langendorf (@JasonLangendorf) November 15, 2025

Are the Illini better off playing or sitting Petrovic and Lee?

Honestly, there's no way to know. Coach Brad Underwood what information he had in his previous injury update to the media, but he also made it clear that he wasn't going to speculate about matters he didn't know and that, frankly, had yet to be determined.

Petrovic (hamstring) and Lee (ankle) both have the sort of injuries that can linger and be tweaked again by rushing the recovery process, which is the last thing Underwood wants. Petrovic has yet to play an official minute for Illinois, and Lee – after an excellent debut – has been out the past two games. Even taking the assumption that Illinois will be fine against Colgate without Petrovic and Lee, Underwood surely wants to get the duo back on the floor, conditioned and in the flow as soon as possible – and ideally before Wednesday's showdown with Alabama in Chicago.

But at what cost? A loss to Bama isn't a back-breaker, and with games against Long Island and UT Rio Grande before facing UConn on Nov. 28, the Illini may be better off ensuring Petrovic and Lee are 100 percent, get them some relatively stress-free minutes in a couple of walk-throughs against mid-major opponents and take the next couple weeks ramping them back up to game shape. We'll know soon what decision Underwood and the trainers come to – but expect them to err on the side of caution.