Three Instant Observations From Illinois' 73-65 Win Over Penn State

No basketball season ever follows a straight line. So it stood to reason that, just as Illinois seemed to be peaking on offense and finally hitting its stride on defense, both lapsed as the Illini jumped head-first back into Big Ten competition Saturday against Penn State at The Palestra in Philadelphia.

Crucially, though, neither slowed their momentum in the standings.

Despite a series of scoring dry spells and clunky offense, not to mention leaving too many opposing shooters open and trudging through a rare so-so rebounding performance, Illinois slugged it out with the Nittany Lions and found other ways to get the job done in a 73-65 win in one of college hoops' most hallowed halls.

Brining home a dub from the Cathedral. pic.twitter.com/Wo5udrwroZ
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 4, 2026

The Illini (11-3, 2-1 Big Ten) shot just 39.3 percent from the floor and 22.2 percent from three-point range. Lucky for them – and mind you, they were fortunate – Penn State (9-5, 0-3) had an even rougher go of it. At times, Illinois was locked in on defense, but in the second half coach Brad Underwood could not have been pleased with all the open looks the Nittany Lions found (even if they weren't able to convert).

A 23-for-28 (82.1 percent) shooting night from the free-throw line provided an enormous boost for the Illini – especially when PSU hit just 9 of 14 (64.3 percent) at the stripe. It was one of the few areas of the game in which Illinois clearly outplayed what should have been a hopelessly outgunned opponent.

Here are three more observations from Illinois' second Big Ten road win of the season:

1. Illinois can't seem to find the flow on offense

It's almost as frustrating to have to keep bringing up as it is to watch it unfold, but it's a special kind of agony for the hoops junkies at Illinois on SI to witness a team with an embarrassment of offensive riches do this ...

Keep moving it.

Ball movement around the arc finds Z for a 3

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/QWOuMtHbNG
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 4, 2026

... and then do this:

Ice cold stepback 😱

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/OBGCsygmX6
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 4, 2026

Yes, we realize that it takes freakish shot-making talent for Andrej Stojakovic to sink that shot – and it sure comes in handy in moments like that when the Illini need it. Trouble is, there are too many of those moments. The bother is that, more often than not, they are avoidable.

Look, sometimes the other guys hunker down for 30 seconds and make it tough on you. Occasionally, your open looks don't fall. But there's no excuse for a team with as much size, shooting, passing and finishing ability as Illinois to struggle to create decent looks with regularity. Mark it: The Illini will lose more games than they should if they don't start consistently embracing their inner Princeton – passing, cutting and forcing opponents to play 5-on-5 the full 40 minutes.

2. Big Z is becoming his best self

Before he arrived in Champaign (and even early this season), Zvonimir Ivisic was your basic one-trick pony. OK, make it two tricks: threes and blocks. At both Kentucky and Arkansas, Ivisic was more or less a spot-up shooter who, on the other end, would swoop in from the weak side with his pterodactyl arms to harass opponents' drives into the paint. Kind of a unique profile, but there wasn't much else there. By the time last year's NCAA Tournament rolled around, Ivisic had lost his starting position, and he played a total of 26 minutes in the Razorbacks' three tourney games.

But at the moment, Big Z is carving out a big role – and delivering even bigger results. Against Penn State, he finished with six points, five blocks and 10 rebounds. It was his second double-figures rebounding performance in three games. For perspective, Ivisic hit double-figures boards only twice in 69 total games at Kentucky and Arkansas.

Active hands!

David's steals feeds Z with a dunk!

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/19tWbVswSf
— Illinois Men's Basketball (@IlliniMBB) January 4, 2026

But the numbers don't tell the whole story. Ivisic has been ferocious. He appears to be playing with purpose, and his offseason hours of work reshaping his body are showing in his improved mobility and his toughness around the rim. He's getting to rebounds that once escaped him and terrorizing bigs in the paint who once would have bulled through him. Another successful example of Illinois' player development seems to be occurring before our eyes.

3. Are the Illini really that vulnerable without Keaton Wagler?

The charm surrounding the story of Keaton Wagler is a source of endless conversational fodder for college basketball announcers, writers and fans, but the narrative may be changing: Wagler is no longer just a Cinderella story – he increasingly looks like the straw that stirs the drink in Champaign.

Foul trouble limited Wagler for stretches Saturday, and only his 14 minutes against UConn was a lower figure than his 27 minutes against Penn State since he had the same floor time in his college debut against Jackson State. And against the Nittany Lions, his absences showed.

The ball got sticky, Illini ball-handlers overdribbled and off-ball movement ground almost to a halt. (See No. 1 above.) Opponents are frequently icing Illinois' high ball screens, and Kylan Boswell and Mihailo Petrovic (both 6-foot-2) are finding it tough to find the angles and get passes off through two defenders. At 6-foot-6, Wagler not only has superior height and leverage in those situations – he tends to get the ball out quicker, and that seems to encourage ball movement and unclog the offense. But Brad Underwood had better start drawing up alternative actions for those occasions when Wagler isn't able (for any reason) to clock his usual ironman minutes.