Illinois takes down Cincinnati 105-96
- Story byThe News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
- Illinois takes down Cincinnati 105-96
Oct. 17—CINCINNATI — Illinois topped the century mark in its exhibition opener Saturday, beating Cincinnati 105-96.
Andrej Stojakovic scored a team-high 24 points, pacing six Illini in double figures. Stefan Vaaks added 19 points, and Ethan Brown finished with 15 points and five rebounds. Quentin Coleman flirted with a triple-double with 14 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Tomislav Ivisic and Jake Davis also hit double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively.
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Cincinnati got a game-high 31 points from Tylen Riley.
Illinois will return to exhibition action Oct. 23 against Baylor at State Farm Center.
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Illinois 96, Cincinnati 89
2:10 2nd half
Quentin Coleman started today's game turning defensive rebounds into fast breaks into drive-and-kick opportunities Tomislav Ivisic turned into made three-pointers. Then the Illinois freshman guard went a little quiet. He didn't quite disappear, but his impact on the game was muted.
"Was" being the operative word.
Coleman is now flirting with a triple-double with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists after tapping into his inner scorer. Ivisic knocked down another three for Illinois' latest score, but before that Coleman was responsible for 10 straight points.
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Illinois 75, Cincinnati 71
9:26 2nd half
Four turnovers and zero points for Illinois in the last 2 1/2 minutes is ... not ideal. That two of them were by Tomislav Ivisic and a third by Stefan Vaaks only compounds the issue. The Illini sit at 14 turnovers for the game (to just eight by Cincinnati), and 10 of them were committed by experienced players. That includes three apiece for Ivisic and Vaaks, tying them with freshman guard Quentin Coleman.
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Illinois 73, Cincinnati 66
11:53 2nd half
Andrej Stojakovic and Stefan Vaaks as Illinois' top two scorers so far today isn't necessarily a surprise. Stojakovic earned preseason All-Big Ten recognition, and Vaaks was named the Big Ten Preseason Transfer of the Year by the league media. Stojakovic currently has 20 points and Vaaks 16.
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Ethan Brown as the third-leading scorer with 10 points is a bit of a surprise, but the freshman guard hauling in a team-high four rebounds (tied with Jake Davis) was even less expected.
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Illinois 67, Cincinnati 60
15:25 2nd half
The look on Tylen Riley's face after Andrej Stojakovic scored on another dribble drive attempt was the same one that crossed multiple players' faces last year. When the Illinois guard gets downhill with his focus on the rim, he's tough to stop.
That's proven true today in Cincinnnati. Stojakovic has a team-high 20 points and is shooting a fairly efficient 6 of 11 in the process.
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But Stojakovic's success attacking the basket can also be a bit of a double-edged sword. When he sees the ball go in, he thinks (perhaps rightly so) it will happen every time. But he also starts to press just a bit and force some shots near the basket that probably should be a pass instead.
The upside for Riley? After leading Cincinnati in scoring in the Bearcats' first exhibition — a win against Ohio State — he's doing the same today with a game-high 21 points (and counting).
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Illinois 59, Cincinnati 55
17:43 2nd half
Brad Underwood saw Ethan Brown knock down a three-pointer and wanted a timeout. The two weren't really related. It was simply an opportunity for the Illinois coach to stop the game and discuss (rather pointedly) his feelings about his team's defense to start the second half. That Cincinnati started the second half making three of its first four shots didn't sit well with Underwood.
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How some of his veterans played in the first half must not have either because Tomislav Ivisic and Jake Davis didn't start the second half like they started the game. Ivisic ... I get. The fifth-year center still only has one rebound.
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Illinois 54, Cincinnati 49
Halftime
Andrej Stojakovic and Stefan Vaaks have done the most scoring for Illinois so far against Cincinnati. The majority of it — 51 percent, in fact — with Stojakovic leading the way with a game-high 16 points and Vaaks adding 12 more that would be helped had he not shot 50 percent at the free throw line.
Stojakovic is basically getting what he wants attacking the basket. That was the 6-foot-7 guard's strength last season, and he's shooting 5 of 8 from the field and a perfect 6 of 6 at the free throw line after being fouled on dribble drive attempts.
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Finishing consistently at the rim — and then making good decisions when those opportunities don't present themselves — was the challenge presented Stojakovic for his second season with the Illini. Especially the latter. The Bearcats simply haven't made it hard enough for him to either finish or get fouled and be forced to find an open teammate on the perimeter.
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Illinois 45, Cincinnati 39
3:51 1st half
A 12-0 run in the last 2 1/2 minutes was Illinois' answer to Cincinnati getting a little frisky. It started with a Landon Davis corner three off a Jason Jakstys assist on a pick-and-roll ball screen action with Ethan Brown, which is a sentence I'm not sure I ever anticipated writing. Brown also chipped in five points, knocking down a three-pointer of his own and hitting a floater after forcing a Bearcats turnover.
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Young guys are getting substantial run so far in the first half and making some plays. It hasn't all been clean — collectively they've been a bit loose with the ball — but not bad for their debut.
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Illinois 33, Cincinnati 31
7:27 1st half
Time to nitpick. The start of the game was solid for Illinois. The last four-plus minutes have been anything but, and that's why Cincinnati is squarely in this ball game.
— Either Tomislav Ivisic has been out of position a couple of times defensively or Illinois' ball screen defense calls for him to hedge fairly strongly instead of drop. The result has been some easy dunks for the Bearcats.
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— Shooting 6 of 9 from the free throw line isn't terrible, but it's also not setting the world on fire either. Stefan Vaaks has a pair of misses at the line but still leads Illinois with a game-high 11 points.
— The Illini offense without David Mirkovic seems to solely be Vaaks, Quentin Coleman or Andrej Stojakovic trying to beat their man off the dribble and then either take the ball to the rim or kick out to a shooter. And that's about it.
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Illinois 21, Cincinnati 16
12:26 1st half
The point of emphasis for Stefan Vaaks after his arrival in Champaign this summer was turning him into a more reliable option attacking the basket. The Providence transfer led the Big East in three-pointers attempted (and made) last season. The Illini wanted to round out his game.
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Attention to that particular detail has clearly worked. Vaaks leads Illinois with eight points, and that only includes one three-pointer. The 6-foot-7 guard is both putting pressure on the rim and finishing there. That positional size is the reason the Illinois staff wanted to turn him into a better attacker. Through 7 1/2 minutes of his Illini career it's working.
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Let's start at the beginning.
Ethan Brown starting ahead of Stefan Vaaks was not something I expected for today's exhibition game in Cincinnati. Jake Davis also starting despite rolling his ankle in practice? That I saw coming given how the senior forward went through warmups.
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It's also not exactly a surprise Quentin Coleman has turned ripping defensive rebounds into immediate fast breaks as the engine for the Illinois offense. Coleman's ability to break down the Cincinnati defense led to a pair of drive-and-kick opportunities and a pair of Tomislav Ivisic made three-pointers in return.
A lot of substitutions already — and I expect that trend to continue all game given how Brad Underwood discussed his game plan — but Illinois does hold the early lead.
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Brad Underwood said he didn't expect Jake Davis to play today against Cincinnati. The Illinois coach also made it clear Davis was pushing to do just that despite rolling his ankle in practice.
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There's no guarantee Davis will play, but the Illinois senior forward sure looked like he was on track to get out there against the Bearcats based on his initial warmup. Davis ran around seemingly unbothered, and his jump shot was as pure as it was roughly 8 months ago.
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It's basically old home week today in Cincinnati given the number of connections between Illinois and Cincinnati.
Illini coach Brad Underwood and Bearcats coach Jerrod Calhoun both spent time working for Bob Huggins. They're also both represented by the same agent — Bret Just. Cavan Walsh is part of both coaches' representation team with Just, and his younger brother, Curran, is a Cincinnati assistant. (Fun fact: I covered Curran Walsh when he was playing at Effingham).
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Underwood and Calhoun's respective staffs also have a connection in brothers Patrick Bittle (Illinois' director of strategy and analytics) and Andrew Bittle (former Illini manager and graduate assistant turned Cincinnati video coordinator).
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Greetings from the Queen City and another official/unofficial start to the 2026-27 Illinois men's basketball season.
The start of practice is one thing. Same for Illinois' on-campus media and the Big Ten's annual event that's called Rosemont home for several seasons in a row.
But an actual basketball game? That's the real sign that hoops is here. And if Illinois is playing, I'm going to be there with only the rare missed game. (Like when the Illinois football team plays in California the same day Brad Underwood's squad plays at State Farm Center).
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What wasn't going to happen, though, was missing the first chance to get eyes on this Illinois basketball team. David Mikovic won't play and Jake Davis is questionable (albeit warming up right now), but there are six freshmen and a rather prominent transfer I haven't seen in orange and blue.
More than enough reason to make the roughly 3 1/2-hour trip from Champaign to see Illinois take on Cincinnati in some exhibition basketball. With limited avenues to follow today's game, be sure to stick right here at for updates before, during and after the Illini and Bearcats square off at Fifth Third Arena.
