7-foot-1 star's mono bout leads to murky return timetable for Illinois basketball
Yesterday at 02:01 PM
Illinois basketball has had to deal with its fair share of adversity recently, and that hasn’t stopped this week. Brad Underwood and the Illini lost one of their best players when star center Tomislav Ivisic went down with mono, leaving Illinois without one of its most skilled players.
After the diagnosis was announced, fans went into a frenzy wondering when Ivisic would be able to take the court again. Unfortunately for Illinois, the timetable for his return is currently unclear according to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.
“Brad Underwood tells me that Illinois’ Tomislav Ivisic (mono) has no timetable for a return,” Rothstein reported on X, formerly Twitter. “The Illini will move on without their starting center starting today against Northwestern in Champaign.”
Ivisic has been one of Illinois’ most important players this season, and the Illini have only had to play one game without him this season. The sophomore from Croatia is the team’s second-leading scorer at 13 points per game and is shooting a pristine 50.3% from the floor. The 7-foot-1 big man can also step out and shoot it from the perimeter, knocking down 35.3% of his 3-pointers.
Ivisic supplements his scoring ability by averaging 8.5 rebounds per game and more than a block a night in just 26 minutes per game. Illinois will miss his presence as a rebounder and a rim protector in addition to what he does as a scorer in the offense.
This Illinois basketball team will look to get off on the right foot without Ivisic in the lineup on Sunday against Northwestern in a game that the Illini are supposed to win in front of their home fans. This is a very important game for Illinois as it looks to emerge from the pack in the Big Ten. Underwood’s group is currently in a five-way tie for fifth place in the conference at 5-4, so it will be looking to put together a winning streak as the calendar flips to February.
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