Illinois' Tomislav Ivisic Battled Through Illness at Michigan State

The typical observer of Sunday's Illinois-Michigan State matchup might have watched Illini sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic trying to find his place in the offense, struggling a bit with his shot and dealing with diminished returns against similarly sized competition.
But what wasn't seen – and what wasn't known to anyone outside the program until after the Illini's 80-78 loss to the Spartans – was that Ivisic was playing sick. Illinois coach Brad Underwood revealed in his postgame press conference that Ivisic played Sunday despite suffering from a particularly nasty bout of strep throat.
"I thought, Tomi – I do want to mention – gutted it up," Underwood said. "I thought he was really good. He's got strep throat. He's been on antibiotics for three days. Just the opportunity to play ... [he] just feels awful."
Ivisic broke out of a recent lull with a big game at Indiana (17 points, 11 rebounds and four assists), and at first glance, his output against Michigan State might appear to have been a backslide. He finished with 13 points and only four rebounds Sunday in East Lansing.
But under the circumstances, Ivisic was a monster against MSU. He huffed his way through 29 minutes – more than in all but one other game since Wisconsin a month ago – shot it effectively inside the arc and deftly quarterbacked the offense at times (five assists).
Ivisic gets thing started quickly for @IlliniMBB ‼️#B1GMBBall on CBS 📺 pic.twitter.com/9vVoUrnfnx
— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) January 19, 2025
If Ivisic seemed off or appeared to lack lift against the Spartans – he had a subpar rebounding day, went 1-for-6 on threes and had no trips to the free-throw line – now you know why.
"His tonsils looked like ... I mean, they're gross," Underwood said of Ivisic. "And so he couldn't breathe. He woke up this morning. he's like, 'I can't breathe.'
"The value Tomi gives us offensively is really hard to replace. You know, all those cuts late were his passing. And when you can shoot it like Tomi, [opponents] have to push up and guard him. And you know, unfortunately – what, Tomi made four or five the other night in Indiana – when you're sick, you just feel like mush. And he did – but his passing was spot on."
Recovery-time estimates for strep throat vary from 3-5 days to a week or longer, depending on your source, but antibiotics can speed up the process significantly. With more than four full days between Illinois' Sunday morning game at MSU and Thursday's 8 p.m. CT tip-off against Maryland, Ivisic should be mostly, if not fully, himself by the Illini's next game.