Illinois' eagerly anticipated 2026-27 season hasn't even tipped off, yet the Illini are already pretty banged up.
Preseason All-American David Mirkovic
has been working back from a foot surgery in early August.Then, in an exhibition loss to Baylor last Friday
, Illinois saw three players - Andrej Stojakovic, Tomislav Ivisic and Zvonimir Ivisic - go down because of injuries. To make matters worse, freshman Lincoln Williams' status is now up in the air.
The Illini play their third and final exhibition game against UIC on Wednesday (7 p.m. CT, Big Ten Plus). In his Tuesday press conference, coach Brad Underwood provided updates on player injuries:
Apr 2, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Illinois head coach Brad Underwood during a press conference ahead of the Final Four of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
"We'll be without a plethora of guys," Underwood said. "Obviously, Mirk is out. Andrej won't play. [Zvonimir] will not play. Lincoln got hurt today in practice. So we'll see what his status is for the game. ... Tomi is back in practice and will play. He's got just a little bruise. We'll be without a lot of dudes. And that's great. We get the opportunity to see what these young guys have."
Both Stojakovic and Big Z appeared to hit their heads on the court in Friday's game. Underwood didn't provide a return timeline for either player. He was vague and non-committal in response to follow-up questions.
"I have no idea," Underwood said. "When it goes to medical stuff ... everything becomes reactive to a build-up and a workout. So I don't know if they're two months. I don't know if they're two days. I don't worry one second about it. I [have] got to coach the guys that we have."
Underwood also didn't divulge much information on Williams' injury.
"He slipped and fell," Underwood said. "[He] spent most of the last half of practice in the training room. So we'll see. I don't know at this point."
Mirkovic, meanwhile, was in a walking boot Friday at the Baylor game - a bit of a shocker given that a video of him recently working out and even dunking had previously made the viral rounds. It was seemingly a setback. But Underwood doubled down on his comments from last week , making it abundantly clear that there has not been a setback of any kind.
Apr 3, 2026; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini head coach Brad Underwood talks with forward David Mirkovic (0) during a practice session ahead of the Final Four of the men's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
"It's safety. It's a precautionary [thing]," Underwood said. "The screw is absolutely perfect. It's doing what it's supposed to do. It's just healing. It's what the human body does. And there's no control over that. Nothing has changed at all. Everything has been as before."
Illinois has a treacherous non-conference schedule , headlined by early matchups with Texas Tech (Nov. 10) and Duke (Nov. 17), along with a meeting against UConn - the club that has ended the Illini's NCAA Tournament run in two of the past three seasons - in Chicago on Dec. 4.
Naturally, Illinois would love to have Mirkovic (and the rest of its key rotation pieces) healthy for those games. Whether or not that will be the case is impossible to know right now.
This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/illinois as Brad Underwood Updates Injury Status of Five Illinois Players Before UIC Exhibition .
