No. 17 Illinois begins its 2025-26 campaign at home this season, taking on in-state opponent Illinois State on Sunday before regular season play begins in November. Head coach Brad Underwood previewed the matchup on Saturday at Illinois’ practice at State Farm Center.

Injured Illini

Illinois will be without four key players in this exhibition: redshirt junior guard Ty Rodgers, freshman guard Mihailo Petrović, junior center Tomislav Ivišić and junior wing Andrej Stojaković.

Rodgers underwent surgery in the offseason after seriously injuring his knee during a pickup game. There is still no timeline for his return. Stojaković is also out with a knee injury, albeit a less serious one. The Cal transfer sprained his knee ahead of official team practices, which began in late September, and is still recovering from that setback.

Ivišič is also out after he had his tonsils removed on Oct. 8. He is expected to return soon, with a decision based on how his body is responding to the tonsillectomy.

Petrović is in the most unique situation out of all Illinois’ missing players. The 22-year-old’s eligibility is still under review by the NCAA because of his age and professional playing experience in Europe. Although he is technically a freshman since it is first year of college, his official year in school has not yet been decided by the NCAA. That is not the only factor keeping him out at this point. Petrović is also managing some injuries.

“Mihailo has rolled his ankle in a pretty severe ankle injury,” Underwood said. “He’s come back from that, and now he’s tweaked a hamstring. His status is still in process.”

The lack of multiple key pieces will offer an opportunity for multiple players to step up. With Petrovic’s absence, highly-touted freshman guard Keaton Wagler should have more of an opportunity, as well as fellow freshman guard Brandon Lee. Ivišić also not playing opens up more opportunities in the frontcourt for freshman forward David Mirković and redshirt freshman Jason Jakstys.

“Great thing about that is freshmen get a lot of minutes and get a lot of experience, and that’ll be a great opportunity for those guys to shine and to play,” Underwood said.

Redbirds missing key players

Sunday will be the first time the Redbirds have made the trip to Champaign in 21 years. The last time the two teams faced off was on Jan. 3, 2004, and the Illini emerged with a seven-point win. Now, two decades later, Illinois State is one of the top teams in the Missouri Valley Conference, and Underwood is looking forward to seeing how his group fares in their first real game action.

“They have done an outstanding job there,” Underwood said. “(Head coach) Ryan (Pedon) has been phenomenal at building that program step by step. Obviously picked to win the league this year. They’ve got a great job with retention and keeping players and building into one of the top teams in the Missouri Valley. We know we’re going to get a great look. We know we’re going to get challenged in a lot of different areas and that’s exactly what we need out of these exhibitions.”

However, Illinois State will also be missing four players, including two of its stars. Junior Chase Walker, a 6-foot-9, 280-pound forward, will not play. He was named First Team All-MVC last season after averaging 15.2 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Redbirds as a sophomore. Second Team All-MVC guard Johnny Kinziger, a 5-foot-11 junior, will also not take the court.

“It’s disappointing,” Underwood said. “I’m sure they’re probably saying the same thing about our guys not being able to go. We have to understand it’s an exhibition, and you’re looking out for the long-term care of your program and your players.”

Defensive progress

Over the summer, Underwood made changes to his coaching staff, bringing in Camryn Crocker as an assistant coach and coordinator to handle defensive responsibilities. On Sunday, the Illini will get their first chance to implement any changes that Crocker has been working on making throughout the offseason and practices so far.

“It’s not drastic — there are some changes,” Underwood said. “ Let’s find out where our base is. Let’s find out what mistakes we’re making. Are they mistakes that are from our base and our foundation, or are they mistakes because we haven’t seen this or that? … I expect there to be some mistakes, but, you know, the effort’s got to be there.”

This year and last season, Underwood has had two extremely talented offensive teams. Defense has always been the question early on in the season, especially last year with an almost entirely new roster. This season, though, there is more continuity in personnel, and that has made a difference in establishing a defensive culture.

“We’re probably ahead (of where we were at defensively this time last season) just because of the veterans,” Underwood said. “You know, I think Kylan’s one of the elite defenders. He sets a tone every day. But, you know, you get guys (like) Jason Jakstys, you get guys (like) AJ Redd, you get guys (like) Ben (Humrichous), Jake (Davis), they’re all better. So they set a tone and a standard. And then I think the one thing that’s been very pleasing for me is our freshmen aren’t lost. Our freshmen are high-IQ; they’ve got really good problem solving abilities. So they’ve fit in very, very well in that capacity.”

A former Illini makes his return

Former Illinois big man Brandon Lieb will return to Champaign for his first game at State Farm Center since transferring to Illinois State in 2023. In his three years as an Illini, Lieb saw action in 33 games, but he only played 95 total minutes and scored a total of 27 points. Although he may not have been much of a factor during games, his 7-foot-1 frame was a key piece in practices, guarding legendary Illini and two-time All-American Kofi Cockburn.

“Brandon was an unbelievable teammate,” Underwood said. “He was here at a tough time because he had to guard Kofi every day. There’s probably a lot of caved-in sternums from his time. That young man showed up every day, he worked, he put in his time, great teammate. Even though it didn’t necessarily translate to great minutes on the court for him, (I) loved having him a part of it.”

Tip-off

The Illini are set to tip off against the Redbirds at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The game will be aired on Big Ten Plus.

[email protected]