By IlliniGuys Staff Writer

January 3, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

PHILADELPHIA -Illinois star freshman Keaton Wagler has received much of the hype for his play in the first couple of months of the season. But classmate David Mirkovic has been known to steal a few headlines of his own.

Mirkovic scored 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead 20th ranked Illinois to a 73-65 win over Penn State Saturday in an ugly game that saw the Illini, averaging 88.2 points per game, manage their second lowest point total this season.

It was the first visit to Philadelphia's historic Palestra arena for Illinois (11-3 2-1 in Big Ten) since the 2003-04 season when they defeated Temple 75-60. The Illini are now 4-1 all-time in the home arena of the University of Pennsylvania, still considered a cathedral of college basketball since it opened 99 years ago. It was a homecoming for Illinois assistant coach Cam Crocker, who played four seasons for Penn.

Mirkovic scored 11 of his points in the second half while Wagler played just seven minutes following intermission after being called for his fourth foul with 19:27 left in the game.

Despite their leading scorer sitting on the bench, the Illini maintained a double-digit lead for most of the half. Wagler returned with 7:20 on the clock and with Illinois holding onto a 57-49 lead and immediately sparked a 7-0 run. The 6-foot-6 guard didn't score a field goal in the second half, but hit all six of his free throw attempts in the final minutes to finish with 16 points. He was plus-16 in just 20 minutes of play.

Kylan Boswell scored a game-high 18 points and Andrej Stojakovic added 12. Zvonimir Ivisic scored six points while pulling down a game-best 10 rebounds and had five blocked shots to set the pace defensively for the Illini.

Illinois struggled through one of its poorest shooting nights of the season, making just eight field goals and going just 2-of-12 from three-point range in the second half to allow Penn State to stay in the game. Overall, the Illini hit just 6-of-27 attempts for 22 percent from the arc. Dating back to the beginning of last season, it's just the third win in 13 games against Power 5 teams when the Illini connected on fewer than 25 percent of their three-point shots.  Illinois countered by making 23-of-28 shots from the free throw line to outscore their hosts by 14 points in that category.

For Mirkovic, it was the fifth double-double of his young career - the most on the team this season - and his first since posting 10 points and 10 rebounds in the 90-86 loss to then-11th ranked Alabama on November 19th. The 6-foot-9 forward from Montenegro is one of only four freshmen in the country (Duke's Cameron Boozer, North Carolina's Caleb Wilson, and Hannes Steinbach of Washington) to average 13 points and eight rebounds a game.

Penn State (9-5, 0-3 in Big Ten) was led by Dylan Mingo's 16 points. The Nittany Lions star freshman scored all of his points in the second half after being limited by foul trouble in the first 20 minutes, including nine points in the final two and a half minutes to fuel Penn State's failed comeback attempt.

Illinois returns home to face Rutgers Thursday night (7:30pm CT, BTN).