By IlliniGuys Staff

March 19, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Keaton Wagler may have spent the week collecting All-American honors, but his classmate David Mirkovic was busy collecting rebounds Thursday night.

The freshman from Montenegro had a double-double by halftime as 3-seed Illinois ripped past 14th seeded Penn 105-70 in the NCAA tournament opener for both schools.

Mirkovic set an Illini freshman NCAA record with a career-high 29 points and a team NCAA mark with 17 rebounds.

He was one of six Illini scoring in double figures. Wagler, a consensus 2nd team All-American, collected 18 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. Kylan Boswell poured in 13 while Tomislav Ivisic and Ben Humrichous had 12 each.

Mirkovic scored 17 points and collected 12 rebounds before intermission, helping Illinois to a 16-0 advantage on points in the paint in the first 20 minutes and a 40-30 lead on the scoreboard.

The All-Big Ten Freshman First Team member scored nine of his points early as the Illini (25-8) roared to a 26-13 lead.

But, in keeping in form of recent games, Illinois went cold from the field and allowed the Ivy League champions to go on a 9-0 spree to cut the lead to 26-22. The Illini notoriously squandered 15-point leads in both the first and second halves in their overtime loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten quarterfinals last week.  But Mirkovic scored eight in the final six minutes to build the lead back up to 13.

Penn (18-12) was led by Michael Zanoni's 20 points.

Illinois will now face 11th seeded Virginia Commonwealth. The Rams rallied from 19 points down to shock 6-seed North Carolina in overtime. That game will tip-off at 6:50pm Saturday night on CBS.

Stay with IlliniGuys.com for complete team coverage from the NCAA tournament site in Greenville, South Carolina.