No. 11 Illinois (23-7, 14-5) took care of business in its final home game of the 2025-26 season, defeating Oregon (11-19, 4-15) 80-54. Led by 21 points from junior wing Andrej Stojaković, the Illini broke their two-game losing streak on Senior Night in front of one of the loudest crowds of the season, giving their three seniors a proper send-off.

From a large crowd pop on senior guard Kylan Boswell’s final “from Champaign” introduction, to graduate student forward Ben Humrichous walking in the pregame ceremony with his new wife, to senior guard AJ Redd scoring a career high in the final moments of the game, it was a night to remember for a trio of players who have each left an important mark on the program.

“It’s always pretty cool to me the culture that those guys establish, and this is always home for them, and I want them to feel that,” said head coach Brad Underwood. 

Duck hunting

Oregon started the game on a 9-3 run, but that was the end of its early-game success. The Illini took the “duck hunting” phrase on the Orange Krush newspapers to heart, finishing the first half on a 38-12 run after the opening five minutes.

It was a 15-minute domination of the Ducks by the Illini, and while offense was easy to come by, that production started on the defensive end. Oregon was held to just 9 of 33 shooting in the opening half, including an abysmal 2 for 16 from three.

“I thought we did a nice job in our gaps,” Underwood said. “I thought we did a nice job of helping each other. I thought we did a nice job of communicating. I thought our little things, our contest rate, our mentality of protecting the paint, was as good as it’s been in some time.”

After defensive letdowns in their last two games, Underwood is focused on making sure that the Illini sustain the level that they proved they can reach on Tuesday. Defense turns into offense, and the offense on this team is potent, allowing Illinois to dominate if its principles on the other end are followed. 

“I’m disappointed that (the defense) slips,” Underwood said. “It’s all we’ve worked on. We didn’t even work on offense for this game. We spent no time on that end. I talked about a little bit at shootaround, but it’s just getting the mentality, the help … I thought our physicality was much better tonight than it was in the Michigan game.”

Offensively, it was a beatdown by Illinois in the first half, through and through. Freshman guard Keaton Wagler led the charge by doing a bit of everything, totaling 11 points, three rebounds and four assists in the first 20 minutes. Humrichous drilled a pair of threes, and Stojaković also added 6 points on three drives to the rim. In total, seven Illini scored in the first half, giving the home team a variety of weapons to capitalize on their defensive stops.

Battling Bittle

Oregon senior center Nate Bittle was the primary threat on Illinois’ scouting report, and it handled the 7-footer relatively well. Bittle only grabbed five rebounds, and he shot just 1 for 7 from three despite being a more than 32% 3-point shooter. A lot of that perimeter pressure on Bittle came from freshman forward David Mirković.

“We tried to put me as a four man on (Bittle) because he can shoot, obviously, and to put five men on their four mans because they are worse shooters than him,” Mirković said. “It worked because I can be more confident in me guarding him, especially on the perimeter.” 

Mirković also made things tough for the Ducks on the offensive end, scoring 19 points to supplement his defensive impact. 

Underwood was confident in Illinois’ ability to stymie Bittle, especially because he was Oregon’s only big man who could be a threat both inside and out. Junior forward Sean Stewart has only shot one three all year, so he was a more one-dimensional problem that Illinois’ frontcourt had no issue shutting down. Bittle could not kick it out to him for open threes when he went into the post.

“We felt like we could give a lot of (defensive) support off the Stewart kid,” Underwood said. “He’s a guy who doesn’t shoot the ball. They cut Nate into a lot of post-ups… We felt like when his post-ups came, we always had some help because of Stewart’s inability to shoot the ball back out on the court.”

Although Bittle was limited on the perimeter, he did show off his ability to score around the rim, making 6 of his 8 shots inside the 3-point line. However, with the rest of his own game limited and his teammates not shooting the ball well, there wasn’t much Bittle could do to carry Oregon past its deficiencies. 

Stojaković rises to occasion

Stojaković had a down past couple of games following his return from injury, including going scoreless against No. 3 Michigan. Underwood really wanted to see two things from him after that: defense and rebounding. He didn’t care about scoring because he knew that would come, but he needed to see some “nastiness” from Stojaković.

Against Oregon, Stojaković rose to meet that expectation, scoring 21 points and grabbing 12 rebounds, his first double-double since Dec. 13. It was an example of how effective Stojaković can be when he puts his head down and just works. He was very aggressive in taking the ball to the rack in the half court, but he also got out in transition and was able to finish through contact. 

“Looking back at that (Michigan) game, obviously you question a lot of things, and I think to stick with coach’s plan that he had for me was the most important thing,” Stojaković said. “I think the practices that I had (the last couple days) carried over to the game.”

Despite his ability as a downhill driver, Stojaković’s 12 boards were the most impressive part of his night. It’s a great step in the right direction and one that needs to be sustained for Illinois to reach its full potential.

“At halftime, all I cared about was getting to that 10 rebound mark to be honest,” Stojaković said. “And when I got the six, I was telling my teammates like, ‘I’m going to go get 10.’ Having one against Michigan and having two good practices, like I needed to carry over.”

AJ mania

With seven minutes left in the game, the chants for Redd started from the crowd. The Illini were up big, and on Senior Night, Underwood was sure to give Redd some tick. With 3:27 to go, the fan favorite checked in, to the delight of the State Farm Center crowd, for his final home game.

A heat check from Redd was unexpected, but it happened, with the Chicago native pulling up from about 30 feet off the dribble right after entering the game. He airballed it, which Underwood was not a fan of, but he wouldn’t let that stop him from scoring a career-high 5 points.

“I couldn’t be happier that AJ scores the last 5 points of the season in here,” Underwood said. “I told the network he’s done one dumb thing in four years here, and that was shoot that shot.”

With under a minute to go, Redd got his moment, nailing a 3-pointer from the left wing, sending the crowd and the bench into a frenzy. But he didn’t stop there. Redd drove to the rim and got a tough layup to go in the last few seconds of the game.

“Surreal moment for me at the end there,” Redd said. “I think it’s a perfect way to recap my career here playing at State Farm. After I took the first one, coach didn’t like that too much. … I shot the next one with confidence, it went in, and it was great to hear the crowd. The Krush especially. They’ve been supporting me all year long when I get in at the end of the games, and so I definitely felt the love from them tonight.”

Following his end-of-game theatrics, Redd got the postgame radio interview, signed autographs and embraced athletic director Josh Whitman as he headed off the court to more chants of his name. Redd’s journey from student manager to walk-on to Senior Night hero was unexpected, but it’s something that many fans can resonate with.

“I think my journey is a little unique,” Redd said. “I just think that it shows that if you put your mind to something, you can overcome barriers, you can overcome obstacles, things that were in your way. Coming out of high school, I wasn’t as highly recruited as I wanted to be. I kind of came here just taking a chance on myself. I came in every day, and I worked as hard as I could. I think that people are able to see that progression, and it kind of shows that they can do something similar as well.”

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