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.

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The tradeoff Andrej Stojakovic made when he transferred to Illinois

Illinois Fighting Illini guard Andrej Stojakovic (2) drives Saturday, April 4, 2026, past UConn Huskies guard Solo Ball (1) during a Final Four game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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.

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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.

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Publish date : 2026-10-02 16:39:00

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