The Balkan theme for Illinois’ basketball team this season is fun and easy to enjoy, even if some students are so geographically challenged they couldn’t find the Balkan region on a map of Europe if you spotted them Greece.
The Illini have five players who hail from the Balkans, including returning center Tomislav Ivišić, the O.G. of the so-called “Balkan Five,” and newcomers David Mirković, Andrej Stojaković, Mihailo Petrović and Zvonimir Ivišić, Tomislav’s twin.
After bringing in Stojaković, a transfer from California, Brad Underwood — a veteran coach with a gift for recruiting and social media — created an AI-generated photo of himself wearing an orange Nike track suit and squatting in front of a drab apartment complex that looked like a relic of the Cold War, pretending to be some sort of Eastern European bad guy.
The Illini coach then posted it to his social media account, creating a meme that quickly became a recurring theme. Another AI meme surfaced showing Underwood with five young, tough-looking guys in the same drab setting, with all but Underwood dangling cigarettes from their mouths, looking like a criminal gang messing with Liam Neeson’s family in one of his action films.
It’s all part of the new, softer Underwood, a coach who seemingly made the pained expression into an art form in his earlier days in Champaign.
The Illini moved up to No. 8 in the rankings on the strength of a four-point victory over then-No. 11 Texas Tech, three blowout wins and the promise of the newcomers, and they headed into Wednesday’s showdown at the United Center against No. 11 Alabama with plenty of optimism. The Big Ten is wide open, and this could be their best team since Ayo Dosunmu left.
“They’ve gone to the Balkan region and gotten some pretty good, tough players,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “They’ve kind of found a niche, bringing those Balkan players over, and it’s worked for them. This could be one of the best teams in the country this year.”
But a 90-86 loss to the Crimson Tide
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brought the Illini back to earth, disappointing a raucous crowd of 17,775 who turned out on the West Side.“We have to understand how not to lose,” Underwood said afterward.
Easier said than done. Underwood pointed to missed free throws, a costly lane violation down the stretch and unforced errors that resulted in turnovers. A winnable game was lost, and a lesson was learned.
Labaron Philon Jr. led Alabama with 24 points, including nine straight for the Tide in the final three minutes to keep the Illini at bay. Illinois was 13 of 22 from the line, including 9 of 16 in the second half. Stojaković missed three down the stretch.
“Shoot, if they make their free throws, they probably win,” Oats said.
Underwood said the Illini took good shots, though they were 3 of 12 beyond the 3-point arc in the second half.
“The good thing is we got fouled,” Underwood said. “The bad thing is we got fouled.”
So the Illini are seemingly a work in progress. They have a ways to go before they can call themselves serious contenders for the Final Four, even as Oats insisted they are championship material.
Illinois certainly will need more from Tomislav Ivišić, who missed the previous three games with a bone bruise on his knee and received a huge ovation from the orange-clad crowd when he entered off the bench four minutes into the first half. He didn’t get into the flow offensively in limited minutes and didn’t score until hitting a 3-pointer nine minutes into the second half, his only basket of the night.
“We need Tomi,” Underwood said. “We need his passing, we need his facilitating, we need his brains.”
For a while it looked as though the Illini could outmuscle the smaller Alabama team. A block by Ben Humrichous led to a fast break that ended in a flying Stojaković slam at the 12½-minute mark of the first half, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Stojaković, the son of former NBA star Peja Stojaković, scored 12 of his 26 points in the first half as the Illini held off the Tide’s surge and led 42-41 going into the locker room. But Illinois went cold at the start of the second half, starting 4 of 18 from the field to trail 56-50 with 11:51 left. All eight Illini points were courtesy of Kylan Boswell, while the rest of the team combined to go 0-for-10.
It took Stojaković’s one-man show to get them back into it. His layup with 5:15 left made it a three-point game. But he missed a free throw, Philon hit a 3 and a Stojaković turnover led to an easy layup that gave the Tide an eight-point lead again at 72-64.
Photos: No. 11 Alabama defeats No. 8 Illinois 90-86 at the United Center
The Illini clawed back time after time, but Philon kept answering the call and Illinois kept missing free throws. Stojaković and Boswell scored 34 of the team’s 44 second-half points, combining for 13-of-24 shooting. The rest were 3 of 13 from the field in the half.
Oats said Underwood “has changed, he’s evolved, he’s playing a very modern style of basketball.” That could be true, but the Illini have to stop making mistakes, both mental and physical, to be a top team.
“I love our team, I love where we’re going to be,” Underwood said.
Where they’re going to be in late March remains the big question. The Big Ten Tournament will be played at the United Center in March, giving the Illini a potential home-court advantage — if they take advantage of it.
We won’t know for sure until the Big Ten season kicks into high gear in the new year. But this is a team that could make noise again if the Balkan Five live up to their billing and Boswell continues to improve.
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