No. 18 Illinois trying to regain its mojo with big man Tomislav Ivisic out indefinitely

[ad_1]

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Illinois flipped its roster after making a run to the Elite Eight, and coach Brad Underwood knew there would be highs and lows navigating the season with the second-youngest team in the Power Four.

The 18th-ranked Illini (14-7, 6-4 Big Ten) have hit a rough patch. Their 80-74 overtime loss at Nebraska on Thursday night was their fourth setback in six games.

They started 12-3, with one of the losses to then-No. 8 Alabama and a maddening one at the final buzzer to then-No. 1 Tennessee. Three weeks ago they were ranked No. 13, and Underwood told reporters his team was capable of making another deep postseason run.

“It’s frustrating for me,” he said after the loss to Nebraska, “because I know where we can be and what we were getting to.”

The Illini have played three straight games without 7-foot-1, 255-pound sophomore center Tomislav Ivisic, who’s out indefinitely with mononucleosis. He’s the team’s second-leading scorer at 13 points per game and the top rebounder at 8.5 per game. The 6-9, 255-pound Morez Johnson Jr. has been starting in Ivisic’s place.

“It’s big for sure,” sophomore guard Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn said of Ivisic’s absence. “Tomi is a great player. He’s one of our starting guys, one of our best players for sure. That’s not an excuse. We have to have the next-man-up mentality.”

Kasparas Jakucionis, the star freshman point guard, missed two games earlier this month with a left wrist injury. He’s the leading scorer with 15.9 points per game and he’s shooting a team-best 37.5% on 3-pointers.

Will Riley, another promising freshman, got the flu and didn’t play much in a 91-70 loss to Maryland last week.

“I don’t know when we’ll get whole again,” Underwood said. “Tomi is a big piece of what we do and Morez was becoming that. We have the No. 1 defense in the country when those two are on the floor together.

“You have 7-1, 250 and quite arguably our second-best shooter — maybe our best shooter now — out of the lineup. And we know how he…

[ad_2]
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/no-18-illinois-trying-regain-144217164.html

Author : Associated Press

Publish date : 2025-01-31 14:42:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.