GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Andrej Stojakovic transferred to Illinois following a standout sophomore season at California because he believed in coach Brad Underwood's program and the Fighting Illini's team chemistry.
That decision has paid off for him.
Stojakovic scored 21 points and No. 3 Illinois beat 11th-seeded VCU 76-55 on Saturday to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three seasons under Underwood.
“I think that we’re even closer off the court," Stojakovic said. “We see how hard we work every single day, and we understand how much this means to us. It just translates on the court. We trust each other. We love each other. Now we’ve just got to keep it going.”
Tomislav Ivisic had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Keaton Wagler chipped in with 14 points for the Fighting Illini (26-8), who advanced to face South Region No. 2 seed Houston, an 88-57 winner over Texas A&M.
Underwood celebrated after the game by waving both arms up in the air simultaneously at the Illinois crowd.
Illinois, which had a huge height advantage, held VCU to 35% shooting and outrebounded the Rams 45-29. The Illini blocked five shots.
Terrence Hill Jr. had 17 points for VCU (28-8).
Illinois bolted to a 20-8 lead after VCU’s Nyk Lewis sprained his ankle in the opening minute of the game and did not return.
But just as they did on Thursday night against No. 6 seed North Carolina when they came storming back from a 19-point, second-half deficit to win 82-78 in overtime, the Rams got back in it with a series of 3-pointers to take a 28-26 lead behind 12 first-half points from Hill.
But VCU couldn’t sustain the momentum.
Illinois took control late in the first half with Stojakovic scoring all the points during a 9-0 stretch to close the half.
“Those runs are going to happen,” Stojakovic said. “Every team is going to make their runs and the ball just happened to find me in the right position, and we do a great job of spacing the floor, hence our versatility on the team. I just took what the defense was giving me really.”
He finished with 16 points in the half, including a dunk to punctuate the run.
“Andrej, what a first half,” Underwood said. “On the offensive side, on the glass, he sparked us. He was tremendous. His athleticism, the dunk he had that kind of ended a little dry spell for us was huge.”
The second half was all Illinois.
The lead got to 23 with 4 minutes remaining, setting off a celebration among Illinois fans.
Teammates amazed by Zvonimir Ivisic’s dunk
The Illini pushed their lead to 17 early in the second half after a highlight reel high-flying transition dunk from Zvonimir Ivisic off a feed from Kylan Boswell.
“He makes crazy plays in transition,” Boswell said. “I was coming down the court, and I just see this 7-footer running behind me and I knew to dump it off to him. He’s a freak athlete, makes tremendous plays for us, so that was a crazy play.”
Illinois’ strategy was to slow down Terrence Hill Jr.
Hill had 34 points in VCU’s win over North Carolina, so the focus of Illinois was to shut him down.
“We knew his ability to shoot from beyond the arc,” Boswell said. “For us, we knew he wanted to get downhill to his right. The whole purpose in these times in March Madness, with a player who has the ability to score like him, you have to make stuff difficult for him. His catches, nothing easy. I think we just did a great job of doing that tonight.”
Nyk Lewis’ injury changed VCU’s strategy
VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr. said losing Lewis to injury so early in the game “took the wind out of our sails.”
“Certainly what Nyk represents, you just can’t replicate,” Martelli said. “I feel terrible for him and for him to go out like that was just a shame.”
Up next
Illinois is 3-2 all-time against Houston, but the Cougars won the most recent meeting 68-53 victory in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
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