GREENVILLE, S.C. — Illinois coaches who scouted VCU’s 19-point comeback victory over North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s South Regional on Thursday night knew what to expect from the hyper-aggressive 11th-seeded Rams, so they were taking no chances when the teams met in the second round Saturday night.
When the game got close in the first half, Illinois coach Brad Underwood unleashed Andrej Stojakovic.
VCU led 28-26 with 3:09 left in the half. But after Stojakovic, a 6-foot-7, 215-pound junior, finished wreaking havoc with nine consecutive points to end the half, the Illini led 35-28.
This time, VCU didn’t have a dramatic comeback waiting in the second half, and No. 3 seed Illinois cruised to a 76-55 win to advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the second time in three seasons.
If “Stojakovic” sounds familiar, it should. His father, Peja, played in the NBA for 13 years, with four teams. But the elder Stojakovic was a different player than his son. At 6 feet 10, he was a jump shooter who connected on 40 percent of his career 3-point attempts.
Andrej Stojakovic started his career trying to emulate his father, but eventually decided he had the skill set to become a different player.
“He’s extremely skilled, powerful and athletic,” Illinois assistant coach Orlando Antigua told Hoops HQ. “He gets downhill and is explosive at the rim, and he can finish through contact because of his size and athleticism.”
Illinois coach Brad Underwood has compared Stojakovic to one of his former players, Marcus Domask, who at 6 feet 6 and 215 pounds tried to impose his will on defenders. “In our program, we call (Stojakovic) a head-rammer,” Underwood said. “He’s a guy that has some Marcus Domask abilities in terms of playing booty ball.”
Illinois can thank senior guard Kylan Boswell for landing Stojakovic out of the portal last spring. The two played high school basketball against one another in California and faced off again when both played in the Pac-12, Boswell at Arizona and Stojakovic at Stanford. Stojakovic played at Cal in 2024-25 but moved on after the season.
“When I saw he was in the portal, I knew how much of an impact he could make for this team, so I hit him up on Instagram,” Boswell said.
Stojakovic didn’t need much convincing to make the trek to Illinois, though Underwood and his staff made it clear that as multifaceted as Stojakovic’s game was, they wanted to add a couple of more facets.
“We asked him to expand his game,” Antigua said. “Wherever he had been before, he had always been asked to score. We wanted him to rebound, defend and utilize some of those tools, those gifts, for other parts of his game.”
Stojakovic’s skills were on full display against VCU. He was 7-of-12 from the field and 7-of-9 from the line for a game-high 21 points. He added four rebounds and a block, and drew six fouls.
“I was just taking what the defense was giving me,” Stojakovic said. “We have such versatility on this team; it allows us to create space for ourselves. The space that we create gives us advantages and we can get to the rim.”
It’s a credit to the Illinois coaches and Stojakovic’s buy-in that he doesn’t rate his performances by looking at the box score.
“For this team to win, I don’t really care how much I play,” he said. “I could play 35 minutes, and I’m gonna go out there and play 35 aggressive minutes. Or I could play 20 minutes and I’m gonna go play 20 aggressive minutes. You see that from every single guy on this team. That’s who we are.”
Meet your guide
