The 2025-’26 ‘BTPowerhouse Season Preview’ series will take an in-depth look at all 18 teams in the Big Ten heading into the 2025-’26 season with analysis on each program’s previous season, roster overhaul,
and top storylines. Each post will also include predictions on each team’s postseason potential.
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Last season was a solid one for the Illinois Fighting Illini. While the campaign was a serious step back from the prior year—when the program reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 2005—, Illinois still hit most of the benchmarks of a success season, making the NCAA Tournament and winning a handful of marquee games. The question is now whether Brad Underwood and staff can get Illinois back to that elite level this year.
Let’s take a look.
1. Last Season.
For most programs, the 2024-’25 season in Champaign would have been a noteworthy one. Illinois complied a 22-13 overall record, reached the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, and recorded wins over teams like Michigan, Missouri, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Xavier. The group also came in at 17th on KenPom, which was its second straight top 25 finish on the website and its fourth in five years.
However, Illinois isn’t most programs. Underwood has lifted the group to new heights and that set the tone for much of last year. While the team was still good, it wasn’t great, at least not at the level fans have come to expect under Underwood’s leadership. Whether right or wrong, making the NCAA Tournament is no longer a head turning accomplishment in Champaign and that will be the only long lasting mark from last season.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of Illinois’ season was the group’s lackluster performances against its most difficult opponents. And while that’s reasonable to expect generally—beating elite opponents isn’t easy, after all—Illinois generally didn’t just lose to elite teams, it got rolled. For example, take a look at this run in late February:
- 2/15 – 14-point loss at home to Michigan State
- 2/18 – 21-point loss on the road to Wisconsin
- 2/22 – 43-point loss on a neutral court to Duke
Losing any of those three games is excusable, especially in a vacuum, but there’s no reason Illinois should have been outscored by a combined 78 points in that stretch. Remember, Illinois beat Wisconsin in December, played Michigan State down to the wire in the Breslin Center in January, and played well against plenty of other quality opponents. However, those kind of eggs cost the squad valuable seeding in March and potentially a shot at the Sweet 16. And it wasn’t just there either, as losses to Alabama and Maryland fit the bill as well.
Still, there were plenty of good moments. Scoring rivalry wins over teams like Indiana, Missouri, and Northwestern excited fans. And making the NCAA Tournament in a “down” year deserves praise as well, let alone winning a game in the bracket. Of course, the key contributor was Kasparas Jakucionis, who took his talents to the NBA following the season.
2. Roster Overlook.
Illinois has undergone a fair amount of roster turnover from last season. The team lost seven players in Carey Booth, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn, Kasparas Jakucionis, Morez Johnson, Keaton Kutcher, Will Riley, and Tre White. The most significant were certainly Jakucionis, Riley, and White, who finished among the top six in minutes on the roster last season. Johnson finished just behind them at seventh in minutes, though he was more than 200 total minute slower than White, who finished a spot above him.
The good news is Illinois adds plenty of firepower to replace them. Illinois brings in seven new players in Blake Fagbemi, Zvonimir Ivisic, Brandon Lee, David Mirkovic, Mihailo Petrovic, Andrej Stojakovic, and Keaton Wagler. Ivisic transferred from Arkansas, Stojakovic transferred from California, and Fagbemi is a walk-on. However, the remaining four players are all high school prospects, who are rated as four-stars by 247Sports.
Stojakovic is probably the newcomer with the most hype and should be able to compete for a starting role immediately. However, Lee arrives as a top 100 prospect and Ivisic has the size to fill the void left by Johnson upfront. Mirkovic also started the exhibition game and led the team with 19 points. The good news is Illinois probably only needs two or three to play serious minutes to have a productive six or seven-player rotation.
3. The Schedule.
-Non-Conference Schedule:
- 10/19 – Illinois State
- 11/3 – Jackson State
- 11/7 – Florida Gulf Coast
- 11/11 – Texas Tech
- 11/14 – Colgate
- 11/19 – Alabama (Chicago, IL)
- 11/22 – Long Island
- 11/24 – UT Rio Grande Valley
- 11/28 – UConn (New York, NY)
- 12/6 – Tennessee (Nashville, TN)
- 12/22 – Missouri (St. Louis, MO)
- 12/29 – Southern
-Conference Schedule:
- 12/9 – at Ohio State
- 12/13 – Nebraska
- 1/3 – at Penn State
- 1/8 – Rutgers
- 1/11 – at Iowa
- 1/14 – at Northwestern
- 1/17 – Minnesota
- 1/21 – Maryland
- 1/24 – at Purdue
- 1/29 – Washington
- 2/1 – at Nebraska
- 2/4 – Northwestern
- 2/7 – at Michigan State
- 2/10 – Wisconsin
- 2/15 – Indiana
- 2/18 – at USC
- 2/21 – at UCLA
- 2/27 – Michigan
- 3/3 – Oregon
- 3/8 – at Maryland
-Postseason Schedule:
- March, 2026 – Big Ten Tournament (Chicago, IL)
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Illinois has its work cut out this year. While the upcoming slate has a few “gimme” games on it, most of it projects as an uphill climb, with a variety of marquee games as well. For perspective, just take a look around Thanksgiving, when Illinois is set to play Alabama, Tennessee, and UConn in just a few weeks.
The Big Ten slate also has plenty of challenging games. Things start relatively comfortably in December and even most of the way through January. However, the back half is absolutely brutal, beginning with a road trip against Purdue in late January and followed with more road games against Michigan State, USC, UCLA, and Maryland thereafter. And most of the home games look tough as well, including Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If Illinois is going to remain a factor in the Big Ten title race, it will need to be healthy for the stretch run.
4. Biggest Obstacle.
The team’s biggest challenge this season will be finding an offensive initiator (or two) to get things going. While Jakucionis had his issues, he accounted for a massive amount of Illinois’ offense last season. The young guard accounted for 25.6 percent of the team’s possessions when on the floor and also led the group with a 26.2 assist rate last season. Those aren’t numbers that are easily replaced.
Expect contributions by committee this year for Illinois. Kylan Boswell is probably ready to step up in the backcourt and Ivisic could be a star upfront. Additionally, Stojakovic put up big numbers at Cal before his transfer, so he should be able to alleviate some of those concerns as well. However, none of the three seem to be head and shoulders above the others, so fans will probably see a split. Stojakovic also suffered an injury during the summer, so it’s unclear whether he’ll be ready to go at season’s tip.
5. Realistic Expectations.
After a “down” year, Illinois looks poised to get back to the top of college basketball, with a loaded roster and plenty of talent. The team enters the season ranked sixth nationally on KenPom and it seems reasonable, given the pieces coming back to Champaign and the talented list of newcomers.
The biggest question is whether Illinois will just be “good” or if it can be “great”. Generally speaking, all the pieces are there to make some noise. The team has the frontcourt, productive wing options, and some backcourt pieces with plenty of upside. Still, when evaluating whether a team can be “elite”, a certain part of the discussion is going to come down to whether the unit has enough star power. When the game is tied with a few minutes left, will Illinois have someone who can get a bucket or two? That’s what needs to be answered.
All told, this looks like a group that should be in Big Ten contention for much of the season. Things will likely come down to that stretch in late February, when Illinois goes on the road to face USC and UCLA and then hosts Michigan the next weekend. A Big Ten title and elite seed in March could easily hang in the balance. Either way, this should be another NCAA Tournament team with potential for more.
