GREENVILLE, S.C. — The day before Illinois cruised by Penn in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Andrej Stojaković wore a mic and had an Illini camera follow him on his walk to the court.
He slapped hands with fans in the stands watching the public practice and then stepped onto the court at Bon Secours Wellness Arena.
“Feels good. Feels good,” Stojaković repeated. “Feels really good.”
That was the moment that got him, he said, when after three years and three stops he officially had entered the NCAA Tournament space.
Coach Brad Underwood said he has loved watching Stojaković in his first run in the tournament, which will continue for No. 3 seed Illinois in the second round Saturday against No. 11 seed VCU (6:50 p.m. CT, CBS-2). The 6-foot-7 junior guard was the first one to arrive on Selection Sunday, the first one to take his seat at the watch party.
“It’s everything I asked for,” Stojaković said. “To be put on this stage, this team helping me to get to this point and then vice versa, me helping this team to reach a different level. I think we all understand what the reward is in making it far in this tournament. We all have the same goal in our head.”
This season has looked different for Stojaković.
He arrived in Champaign from California, where he led the Golden Bears with 17.9 points per game as a sophomore after a freshman season at Stanford.
He joined an Illinois team with a deep roster of talented players, including freshmen Keaton Wagler and David Mirković, who have taken over games offensively many times this season.
Stojaković, the son of former NBA All-Star Peja Stojaković, is capable of that too. He has scored in double figures in 16 games, including 22 points against USC and 21 against Oregon. Illinois assistant coach Tyler Underwood touted his athleticism, his ability to put pressure on the rim, his “unbelievably good handle” and his ability to draw fouls.
Stojaković showcased those abilities a handful of times Thursday against Penn, including on the first NCAA Tournament points of his career. As the Illini were trying to build a first-half lead, Stojaković took a pass at the top of the key, drove left, then right, then spun to the basket for a layup and a foul. He hopped sideways and yelled in celebration at his first of nine points for the night.
But the Illini also have asked Stojaković to be more than just a scorer in a season in which he is averaging 13.3 points and 4.6 rebounds, most recently as the first player off the bench behind starter Jake Davis.
Stojaković said coaches have talked to him a lot about making winning plays that don’t necessarily show up on stat sheets, such as crashing the boards to help another player snare the rebound.
Tyler Underwood said Stojaković has embraced the role change, understanding that the majority of a game is about what a player does without the ball in his hands. He believes Stojaković has become one of the Illini’s best cutters and has the highest offensive rebounding rate of his career with 40 offensive boards. He has become someone the Illini look for in transition as someone tough to guard in the open floor. He has grown in playmaking and reading the game.
“He talked about winning a lot,” Tyler Underwood said. “He’s done an unbelievable job of holding himself accountable to that standard. He’s wanted to learn.
“Just the type of teammate he is, what he’s been able to do with David and Keaton Wagler, pushing those guys as an older guy, someone they look up to, but also letting them play their game. He’s a very selfless kid, and I don’t think that gets talked about enough.”
It hasn’t all been a smooth path. Tyler Underwood said it at first wasn’t a struggle but “a learning process.”
Stojaković was sidelined by a sprained knee in the preseason, which cost the coaches time pushing him in his revised role. He also missed time with a high ankle sprain in February and had a quiet game — no points and one rebound in 12 minutes — in the loss to Michigan a couple of games after his return.
Brad Underwood called the preseason injury “very frustrating for me as a coach” because of the time missed.
“Because I love him as a human being, just an unbelievable person, unbelievable listener, wants to be great,” Brad Underwood said. “He missed seven weeks, and we didn’t get a chance to help guide him and push him through some of those things. Then he has a couple of games early where he doesn’t grab a defensive rebound, doesn’t have a rebound period, and to me those are winning plays. I always felt like he could be an elite defender, just needed to be pushed, needed to be challenged on that side, and he has done all of those things.
“Offense comes easy for him. He knows how to score the basketball. It was all those other little things that impact winning at a high level.”
The way the coaching staff has pushed him isn’t necessarily a surprise to Stojaković.
He said he understood what he was getting when picking the Illini and Brad Underwood — “a hard-nosed coach” who demands his players get behind him. But Underwood also has their back, Stojaković said.
“That’s what makes it so special is he finds things every player can get better at, and he challenges each and every one of us to work at it,” Stojaković said. “Our team is allowed to have those honest conversations with each other where when it’s time to work on something, we do it, and we’re just very comfortable with the criticism we receive because we know it will make us better.”
Now the Illini hope all of that work results in a trip to the Sweet 16 next week in Houston.
The Illini were on their game offensively Thursday against their overmatched Ivy League opponent, scoring 65 points in the second half, with nine players contributing after halftime. That included a 3-pointer from Stojaković midway through the half as they stretched their lead to 21 points.
The Illini hope to continue that dominance Saturday against VCU but know they could have a stiff challenge on their hands with a team that stormed back from a 19-point, second-half deficit to beat sixth-seeded North Carolina. Brad Underwood said he was impressed with VCU’s tenacity and will to keep fighting, led by guard Terrence Hill Jr.’s 34 points.
A win would continue unprecedented territory for Stojaković. His last two teams both maxed out at 14 wins, while the Illini enter Saturday’s contest at 25-8.
Stojaković said he picked the Illini in part because he was enamored with what they could do with big men Tomislav and Zvonimir Ivišić — and has been pleasantly surprised with what Wagler and Mirković have done.
Despite sharing the load with all of them, he said he “wouldn’t change it for anything.” He knows his contributions in multiple facets of the game could go a long way.
“It’s kind of the culture we established,” Stojaković said. “We’re very different from a lot of teams, especially off the court. We have a different mindset. I think we almost love each other too much. … I think that translates to our chemistry on the court.”
