Apr. 19—Andrej Stojakovic entry into the transfer portal provided another experienced wing for Illinois to take a run it this offseason. It’s a position of need for the Illini heading into the 2025-26 season, and Stojakovic (the son of three-time NBA All-Star and 2011 NBA champion Peja) is available now given he has not declared for the 2025 NBA Draft like Florida State’s Jamir Watkins has and Italian standout Dame Sarr seems likely to do.
Stojakovic is coming off a breakout sophomore season at California after starting his college basketball career at Stanford. The 6-foot-7, 190-pound guard averaged 17.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the Golden Bears. He shot 43 percent overall and 32 percent from three-point range (so not quite the deadeye shoot his dad was).
Illinois has an in with Stojakovic given Orlando Antigua recruited him out of high school. The Carmichael (Calif.) Jesuit product was a McDonald’s All-American and four-star prospect in the Class of 2023 by all of 247Sports, On3, Rivals and ESPN, but he did garner a five-star rating in the 247Sports Composite.
While Stojakvic represents a potential key piece in Illinois’ roster rebuilding efforts this offseason, the pursuit of the former Pac-12 and ACC guard takes on another level of intrigue. Should the Illini land him, they would be that much closer to giving Brad Underwood a full Balkans BINGO in his time at Illinois (Slovenian Matic Vesel was the first).
As is, Underwood is close to reforming the former Yugoslavia in Champaign with Tomislav Ivisic and Zvonimir Ivisic (Croatia) and David Mirkovic (Montenegro) slated to team up in 2025-26. Stojakovic was born in Greece and his mother is Greek, but his dad is Serbian and Andrej holds dual citizenship. That’s halfway to the goal, with only Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and North Macedon not represented.
Sign up for our daily basketball newsletter here
Welcome to “Good Morning, Illini Nation,” your daily dose of college basketball news from Illini beat writer and AP Top 25 voter Scott Richey. He’ll offer up insights every morning on Brad Underwood’s team and college basketball at large:
Andrej Stojakovic entry into the transfer portal provided another experienced wing for Illinois to take a run it this offseason. It’s a position of need for the Illini heading into the 2025-26 season, and Stojakovic (the son of three-time NBA All-Star and 2011 NBA champion Peja) is available now given he has not declared for the 2025 NBA Draft like Florida State’s Jamir Watkins has and Italian standout Dame Sarr seems likely to do.
Stojakovic is coming off a breakout sophomore season at California after starting his college basketball career at Stanford. The 6-foot-7, 190-pound guard averaged 17.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists for the Golden Bears. He shot 43 percent overall and 32 percent from three-point range (so not quite the deadeye shoot his dad was).
Illinois has an in with Stojakovic given Orlando Antigua recruited him out of high school. The Carmichael (Calif.) Jesuit product was a McDonald’s All-American and four-star prospect in the Class of 2023 by all of 247Sports, On3, Rivals and ESPN, but he did garner a five-star rating in the 247Sports Composite.
While Stojakvic represents a potential key piece in Illinois’ roster rebuilding efforts this offseason, the pursuit of the former Pac-12 and ACC guard takes on another level of intrigue. Should the Illini land him, they would be that much closer to giving Brad Underwood a full Balkans BINGO in his time at Illinois (Slovenian Matic Vesel was the first).
As is, Underwood is close to reforming the former Yugoslavia in Champaign with Tomislav Ivisic and Zvonimir Ivisic (Croatia) and David Mirkovic (Montenegro) slated to team up in 2025-26. Stojakovic was born in Greece and his mother is Greek, but his dad is Serbian and Andrej holds dual citizenship. That’s halfway to the goal, with only Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and North Macedon not represented.
