No. 3 Illinois Hosts FDU in Season-Opener Monday at State Farm Center

Monday, November 2

Champaign, Ill.

7 pm CT

University of Illinois

FDU

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November 1, 2026 | Men's Basketball

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#3/3 ILLINOIS (0-0) vs. FDU (0-0)
Date \| Time	Monday, Nov. 2, 2026 \| 7 p.m. CT
Location	Champaign, Ill. \| State Farm Center
Buy Tickets	FightingIllini.com
TV	Big Ten Network (Cory Provus & Bruce Weber)
Live Stream	FOX One
Radio	Busey Bank Illini Sports Network \| Varsity Network App \| Sirius XM 84 \| SXM App
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Printable Notes	Illinois \| FDU
Pregame Press Conference	Coach Underwood (Nov. 1)
2025-26 Stats	Illinois \| FDU
Shop	Online Store \| Auctions
Social Media	@IlliniMBB \| #Illini \| @IlliniMBB \| Facebook \| YouTube

PROJECTED STARTERS (2025-26 college stats listed)
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Elig.	PPG	RPG	APG	Note
G	2	Andrej Stojakovic	6-7	205	Sr.	13.5	4.5	1.0	NCAA South All-Region Team
G	11	Quentin Coleman	6-4	180	Fr.	-	-	-	Jerry West Award Preseason Watch List
C	13	Tomislav Ivisic	7-1	270	5th	10.4	5.6	1.6	105 3FG last 2 yrs, 1st in NCAA by 7-footer
F	15	Jake Davis	6-6	210	Sr.	5.4	2.2	0.7	40.6% 3FG to lead Illini (54-133)
G	34	Ethan Brown	6-4	185	Fr.	-	-	-	Missouri first-team All-State
OFF THE BENCH (2025-26 college stats listed)
Pos.	No.	Name	Ht.	Wt.	Elig.	PPG	RPG	APG	Note
F	0	David Mirkovic	6-9	250	So.	13.3	8.0	2.6	Preseason All-American
G	1	Lincoln Williams	6-5	180	Fr.	-	-	-	Career scoring leader at Kankakee High
G	5	Quentin McCoy	6-1	170	Jr.	0.0	0.0	0.0	Played last two seasons at Arizona State
G	7	Stefan Vaaks	6-7	215	So.	15.8	2.5	3.2	Big East All-Frehman Team at Providence
G	8	Blake Fagbemi	6-0	180	So.	0.2	1.0	0.4	Appeared in 11 games as a freshman
F	22	Zavier Zens	6-7	215	Fr.	-	-	-	Gatorade Wisconsin Player of the Year
G	23	Lucas Morillo	6-7	210	Fr.	-	-	-	New England Prep Player of the Year
F	27	Landon Davis	6-9	220	Fr.	-	-	-	Iowa first-team All-State
C	31	Jason Jakstys	6-10	220	Jr.	1.3	1.9	0.2	Played in nine games last season
F/C	44	Zvonimir Ivisic	7-2	250	5th	6.4	4.5	0.3	72 blocked shots, 3rd-most in UI history

Head Coach Brad Underwood

Career Record: 302-137 (.688), 14th year
At Illinois: 193-110 (.637), 10th year
Big Ten: 107-71 (.601)

Series History vs. FDU

All-Time Record: Illinois leads 2-0
Record in Champaign: Illinois leads 1-0
Last Meeting: #11 Illinois 104, FDU 71 (Dec. 29, 2023 at Champaign)
Underwood vs. FDU: 1-0

Opening Tips

Illinois opens its 122nd season of men's basketball on Monday, hosting FDU (7 p.m. CT / BTN).
The Fighting Illini are coming off the program's first Final Four appearance in 21 years, a 28-9 record to mark the fourth-most wins in school history, and a Big Ten runner-up finish (15-5).
Expectations entering the 2026-27 season are high, once again, as head coach Brad Underwood welcomes back five rotation players from the Final Four run in David Mirkovic, Andrej Stojakovic, Tomislav Ivisic, Zvonimir Ivisic, and Jake Davis while adding an impact transfer in Stefan Vaaks from Providence and a top-15 recruiting class consisting of six freshmen highlighted by High School All-American Quentin Coleman.
Illinois is the preseason No. 3 in the AP Top 25 and the Coaches Poll, and No. 4 by kenpom.
No. 3 is the second-highest preseason rank ever for the Fighting Illini program, matching the No. 3 spot 25 years ago entering the 2001-02 campaign. Brad Underwood has now led the Orange and Blue to preseason AP Top 25 rankings in six of the last seven seasons:
- No. 8 entering 2020-21
- No. 11 entering 2021-22
- No. 23 entering 2022-23
- No. 25 entering 2023-24
- No. 17 entering 2025-26
- No. 3 entering 2026-27
The Illini have finished 35th or better in kenpom rating in each of the last seven seasons, with a high of No. 4 in 2020-21. Illinois has had three consecutive top-20 final kenpom rankings:
- No. 10 in 2023-24
- No. 17 in 2024-25
- No. 5 in 2025-26
Illinois is the winningest team in Big Ten play this decade and is one of four programs nationally with seven straight 20-win regular seasons. Since the start of the 2019-20 season the Illini have posted 96 B1G victories. During that stretch, the Illini also own the most road wins in league play with 42.

Illini In Season Openers

The Fighting Illini have posted an all-time record of 107-14 (.884) in season openers.
Illinois has won 10 straight openers dating back to 2016, including a 9-0 mark in season-openers under head coach Brad Underwood since 2017:
- Illinois 81, Southeast Missouri 62 (11/11/2016)
- Illinois 102, Southern 55 (11/10/2017)
- Illinois 99, Evansville 60 (11/7/2018)
- Illinois 78, Nicholls State 70 - OT (11/5/2019)
- #8 Illinois 122, North Carolina A&T 60 (11/25/2020)
- #11 Illinois 71, Jackson State 47 (11/9/2021)
- #23 Illinois 87, Eastern Illinois 57 (11/7/2022)
- #25 Illinois 80, Eastern Illinois 52 (11/6/2023)
- Illinois 112, Eastern Illinois 67 (11/4/2024)
- #17 Illinois 113, Jackson State 55 (11/3/2025)
The Illini are 42-2 (.955) when starting the season at State Farm Center.
Illinois has won 29 straight games when opening the year at State Farm Center dating back to a 99-73 victory over LaSalle on Dec. 1, 1993.

Illinois vs. FDU

Monday's opener marks the Fighting Illini's third matchup all-time vs. FDU. Illinois is 2-0 in the series and welcomes the Knights to State Farm Center for the second time in four seasons.
Brad Underwood is 1-0 vs. FDU, having led the Illini to a 104-71 victory in the Illini's nonconference finale, Dec. 29, 2023. Six Illini scored in double-figures in the win, led by Dain Dainja with 19, and 18 each from Coleman Hawkins and Justin Harmon. Quincy Guerrier (14 points, 11 rebounds), Marcus Domask (11 points, 11 assists), and Ty Rodgers (10 points, 15 rebounds) all posted double-doubles.
The first matchup was played in the 2005 NCAA Tournament First Round at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The top-seeded Illini defeated the Knights, 67-55, in a game that Illinois led by a single point, 32-31, at halftime.
Dee Brown (19 points), Luther Head (13) and James Augustine (11) all scored in double-figures for the Illini, with Augustine posting a double-double with a game-high 15 rebounds.
The Fighting Illini would go on to defeat Nevada (71-59), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (77-63), and No. 9 Arizona (90-89, OT) to reach the Final Four in St. Louis, where they earned a 72-57 win over No. 4 Louisville before finishing as the national runner-up vs. No. 2 North Carolina.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES

In the buildup to the 2026-27 season, four members of the Fighting Illini roster - David Mirkovic, Andrej Stojakovic, Tomislav Ivisic and Quentin Coleman - have been recognized as national preseason awards candidates.
David Mirkovic earned preseason first-team All-America honors from both the Associated Press and CBS Sports, and a second-team nod from Field of 68. He has also been named to preseason watch lists for NABC Player of the Year and the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year.
Andrej Stojakovic and Tomislav Ivisic are each listed for the second straight season on watch list for Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year, respectively.
Mirkovic and Stojakovic were also tabbed as a preseason All-Big Ten selections.
Quentin Coleman is one of only three freshmen on the 20-player watch list for Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year. Last season, Illinois' freshman Keaton Wagler won the award.