Illinois men’s basketball already having five Balkan players on its roster was seemingly not enough. The Illini are adding 6-foot-9 Croatian guard/forward Toni Bilić ahead of the spring semester, his agent Misko Ražnatović told DraftExpress’ Jonathan Givony on Monday afternoon.
Ražnatović represents four other international Illini: junior centers Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić, freshman forward David Mirković and sophomore guard Mihailo Petrović. The Europe-to-Illinois pipeline he is building will continue with Bilić, although the new addition is not expected to be an instant contributor, unlike the other Balkans.
The 20-year-old most recently played for KK Cedevita Junior Zagreb during the 2024-25 season, where he averaged 3.0 points and 1.5 rebounds in 8.4 minutes across eight games in the Croatian Premier League. Although it’s a small sample size, Bilić shot 75% from inside the arc and 28.6% from deep in those contests.
Bilić has played for Cedevita Junior since 2022 and was a part of Croatia’s FIBA U18 team in 2023 and U20 team in 2024. In four U20 EuroBasket games last year, Bilić averaged 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds while shooting 47.9% on 2-pointers. However, he missed all nine of his 3-point attempts.
Illinois had one final roster spot heading into this season, so Bilić fills that opening, but he will likely be just a depth piece for Brad Underwood this season. Bilić has not drawn the same level of attention or had the same amount of pro success as any of the other Europeans on Illinois’ roster before coming to the United States. He is still a very raw prospect that needs to get stronger, improve his outside stroke and adjust to the style of high-level college basketball.
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Add in the fact that he is joining the team midseason, and it does not look like Bilić will be more than another long, skilled player that Illinois can use to challenge its rotation players in practice. Strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher will also spend a lot of time with Bilić to help him add strength to his frame.
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