Why Andrej Stojakovic Is the Perfect Example of What Makes Illinois Special

Andrej Stojakovic is Illinois basketball's lone McDonald’s All-American during Brad Underwood’s tenure in Champaign. Seemingly, that's almost by design. Underwood and his staff have shown their ability to land high-level recruits (both Will Riley and Quentin Coleman were five-star prospects), but the Illini appear to prefer the players who haven’t always been rated as the very best of the best.

The rationale makes a certain amount of sense: Top recruits, at least generally speaking, tend to be more self-interested – in high scoring numbers, realizing their NBA dreams, etc. – than team-oriented. It’s understandable. And there’s nothing wrong with it. But it does make it harder to win college basketball games.

The tradeoff Andrej Stojakovic made when he transferred to Illinois

So what makes Stojakovic different? First of all, he spent two seasons elsewhere before arriving at Illinois. He started his career at Stanford, where he played 22.3 minutes per game and scored 7.8 points while shooting 40.9 percent from the field.

Year 2 saw Stojakovic bounce to Cal, where his scoring skyrocketed to 17.9 points but his efficiency lagged behind (42.7 percent). Above and beyond those figures, his teams finished well below .500 in both seasons and didn’t sniff the NCAA Tournament.

Then Stojakovic made the leap to Illinois. His shot attempts plummeted. His scoring dropped to 13.5 points per game. A former McDonald’s All-American who averaged nearly 18 points in the ACC a year earlier, Stojakovic came off the bench in 13 games last season.

But his win total in 2025-26? The Illini's 28 victories matched Stojakovic's combined win total in his first two years of college basketball. And, of course, he found himself in the Final Four.

OK, but heading into his fourth season of college hoops, Stojakovic should, presumably, want it all, right? He was on the fence for the NBA Draft this year and elected to return to Champaign. Obviously, he wants to improve his draft stock.

So it would be reasonable to expect that Stojakovic wants to see that team success paired with an explosive, perhaps All-American level 2026-27 individual showing. And it would be understandable if those latter aspirations shifted to the top of his list of priorities.

Why Andrej Stojakovic's mindset bodes so well for the Illini future

So what are some of his goals headed into the upcoming season? He was asked that in his interview on "The Illinois Script." Here’s what he had to say:

“Continue to become more cohesive as a unit every day,” Stojakovic said. “That’s something we kind of pride ourselves on. And think about what we can do to be better as Illinois, and not just for ourselves.”

In terms of ndividual goals, though, what is Stojakovic focusing on?

“Holding my teammates to a higher standard, realizing that what happened last year has nothing to do with what we want to do this year,” Stojakovic said. “But, yeah, I’m trying to be a leader for the younger guys. We have a lot of freshmen this year, so being there for them.”

Noticing a theme? Stojakovic doesn’t seem to be very concerned with his numbers, awards or draft stock. And he made that abundantly clear later in a separate response to a different question.

Stojakovic was asked what he would like to achieve on the court before he’s done playing basketball. A few potential answers: earn All-American status, play in the NBA, make an All-Star team. You get the idea.

“Become a national champion,” Stojakovic said. “Pretty easy.”

Stojakovic may be the son of a former NBA All-Star (Peja Stojakovic) and deftly media trained, but it’s also fairly evident his comments are more than just expected sound bites. His 2025-26 body of work certainly backs up that theory.

Brad Underwood's fit evaluation and overall roster-building

That, in a nutshell, is what makes Illinois so special. First and foremost, it’s a testament to Stojakovic’s selflessness. But it's also the perfect example of Underwood’s knack for either finding players who will put team above individual or ingraining that mindset into his players.

Top recruits may have all the talent in the world, but they don't often have the self-awareness and selflessness to prioritize their college team first, let alone have an interest in doing so. Illinois got lucky with Stojakovic, whose talent and unselfishness make him close to the full package.

It isn’t just Stojakovic, though. Over the past few years, nearly every player on the Illini roster has been pretty single-minded in repping team first. And, again, it’s Underwood’s penchant for finding those players – the ones who embody the program’s values and have top-shelf ability – that is so impressive. As long as Underwood continues to do that, Illinois should be a powerhouse that is perennially in the race for a national title.

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