By IlliniGuys Staff

January 21, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Andrej Stojakovic threw in a season-high 30 points and Illinois showed it can play shutdown defense without star guard Kylan Boswell as the 11th ranked Illini throttled visiting Maryland 89-70.

Illinois (16-3, 7-1 in Big Ten) won its eighth straight game, its longest streak since reeling off eight wins in a row to win the 2021 Big Ten tournament and its NCAA tournament opener against Drexel, all in Indianapolis in the first college basketball postseason tournament after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Maryland (8-11, 1-7 in Big Ten) hit six of its first seven shots on the way to an early 24-19 lead. But the Terrapins managed to make just three field goals in the final 9:17 of the first half as the Illini closed the opening period on a 25-4 run to take a commanding 47-30 lead at halftime.

Stojakovic was the catalyst, hitting his first four shots and making 4-of-5 from three as part of a 16-point half. The Cal transfer finishing with the fifth 30-point game of his career and the four three-pointers tied a career-high.

The junior forward added nine rebounds and was stellar on the defensive end slowing down Maryland scoring star David Coit. The junior had scored 73 points in his last two games, but was held to his season average with 15 points on 5-of-15 shooting and just 1-of-8 from three-point range.

Illinois played its first game without Boswell, the senior guard who leads the team in minutes played and is their top wing defender. He suffered a broken right hand in practice on Monday and is expected to miss three to four weeks.

Junior Jake Davis took his place in the starting lineup and delivered 12 points, all on three-pointers as the Illini drained 15 shots from long-range. David Mirkovic scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds while fellow freshman Keaton Wagler added 13 points with 8 assists against no turnovers. Tomislav Ivisic added 9 points and 7 boards. Illinois had a 47-31 rebounding edge over the Terrapins.

At 7-1 in conference play, Illinois is off to its best Big Ten start since 2004-05 when the Illini won their first 15 league games en route to winning the regular season and conference titles and advancing to the program's lone appearance in the NCAA championship game.

It's the final tuneup before the highly-anticipated matchup with 6th ranked Purdue. The Boilermakers are coming off a 69-67 loss at UCLA Tuesday night that snapped their nine-game win streak. It's the first meeting between the rivals since Illinois' 88-80 in Champaign last March and their only regular season matchup this year. That's a 3:00pm Eastern Time start and can be seen on FOX.

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