Illinois' Tomislav Ivisic Reemerges in Victory vs. Northwestern

Illinois men's basketball's seemingly infinite array of scoring weapons can be a double-edged sword. The benefits are relatively straightforward: multiple options that work alongside one another, each only strengthening one another’s skill set. Accounting for five scorers is always more difficult for a defense than checking one or two, and it is always somebody’s night.

But that other edge can be cutting, too. The main risk for the Illini in 2025-26? A limiting of opportunities for big man Tomislav Ivisic.

Take your pick: Andrej Stojakovic, Keaton Wagler, David Mirkovic, Kylan Boswell – you can’t go wrong with the ball in any of their hands. Yet no member of that quartet was expected (or at least assured) to be Illinois' go-to offensive option. It was supposed to be Ivisic.

Illinois rides Tomislav Ivisic's resurgence to fourth Big Ten road victory

Through 16 games, though, that was not the case. Not at all. All four of Illinois' other starters average more points and shot attempts than Ivisic – and by a relatively healthy margin. The Illini never visibly seek out Ivisic or seem to make a priority of getting him touches – certainly not in the manner they did last year.

But on Wednesday night in Evanston, the ball landed in his hands again and again. And Ivisic responded. After Illinois finally making a point of getting Ivisic involved early against Northwestern, the 7-foot-1 big man was immediately more engaged on both ends. Feeding off the trust of his teammates – and one imagines the coaching staff – Ivisic was locked in not just as a scorer but also defensively and on the glass.

Although he was a bit out of sorts during his early post-ups, Ivisic made his presence felt as a rebounder (finishing with seven boards, tied for his second-most in a game this season) and was a brick wall on defense.

In the second half, when the Illini again circled back to Ivisic, he was ready to make his impact on offense. Taking advantage of mismatches, hitting his signature bunnies around the rim, cleaning up on the offensive glass and, naturally, knocking down threes, Ivisic cashed in. He finished with 21 points on 8-for-15 shooting while adding those aforementioned seven rebounds – three of which came on the offensive side.

Heading to the line.

Tomi draws the foul off the layup!

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/cZVFk8xNJJ
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 15, 2026

Most encouragingly, though, Ivisic did it with swagger. Despite coach Brad Underwood’s adamance that Illinois – which has the third-best offense in the country, per KenPom – doesn’t need to make any offensive adjustments, it appears that the Illini at least made certain accommodations Wednesday to jump-start Ivisic's game.

Simply emphasizing dumping the ball into the post more often and prioritizing Ivisic as a target when defenses sag off him on the three-point line can be a game-changer for Illinois. Better yet, that can all be accomplished while staying within the flow of the offense and avoiding any major alterations to the scheme – as we saw firsthand against Northwestern.

After a more than three-minute stretch in which the Illini made just one field goal – their inevitable routine scoring drought – and saw their lead shrink from 15 to five, Ivisic reentered the game and the momentum flipped in the bat of an eye.

Big bucket by a big man.

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/Dvi7Arj9q9
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 15, 2026

Ivisic scored 11 of the next 13 for Illinois, pushing the lead back to 10 with just over two minutes remaining. The Illini eventually escaped Evanston with their first win at Welsh-Ryan Arena since 2022.

road kILL pic.twitter.com/TYrueASEPq
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 15, 2026

The beauty of the Illini is their balance. But to not focus the majority of offensive efforts – or, at the very least, more of them – toward perhaps their most dynamic offensive threat is an injustice to both Ivisic and the team. Perhaps Wednesday was just the first step in righting that season-long wrong.