By IlliniGuys Staff
March 3, 2026
(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - A.J. Redd first stepped onto the State Farm Center court as a manager on the Illinois men's basketball team.
Illini guard AJ Redd is all smiles after draining the first three-pointer of his collegiate career as Illinois defeated Oregon Tuesday night at State Farm Center. (Courtesy Joe Pickrell/IlliniGuys)
He ended it with one of the biggest cheers of the season.
Redd drained the first three-pointer of his career with 50 seconds left in the game to a roaring ovation, providing the exclamation point on 11th ranked Illinois' 80-54 rout of Oregon on Senior Night.
Redd, Kylan Boswell, and Ben Humrichous were honored prior to the game along with the team's managers. Boswell, a Champaign native who came home after two seasons with Arizona, scored three points in his final home game. Humrichous scored six and Redd finished with five, adding a layup later for the game's final bucket.
The Illini may have been caught up in the emotions of the night, allowing the underdog Ducks to score the game's first six points before going on a 21-0 run to take a double-digit lead they would never give up.
The spurt was fueled by six points from Andrej Stojakovic. The junior guard struggled in a scoreless 12 minutes of action in Friday night's loss to Michigan but responded with game highs of 21 points and 12 rebounds, including another 10-point effort during a 15-0 second half stretch to put the game out of reach. Stojakovic posting his seventh 20-point game and second double-double of the season.
Freshman David Mirkovic added 19 points and seven rebounds while classmate Keaton Wagler finished off the home slate with 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
Illinois (23-7, 14-5 in Big Ten) finishes its home slate at 14-3 with its second straight rout of the Ducks in as many years. The Illini scored a 109-77 victory over a then-9th ranked Oregon squad in January 2025 to set an NCAA record for biggest win ever over an Associated Press Top Ten team on the road.
Oregon (11-19, 4-15 in Big Ten) suffered its worst loss since falling 90-55 at Nebraska on January 13th. The Ducks were led in scoring with Nate Bittle's 15 points. They will finish the regular season at home against Washington on Saturday.
The Illini close out the regular season at Maryland on Sunday (2pm, FOX). A win will clinch 4th place in the Big Ten standings and secure the 4-seed and a triple-bye in next week's conference tournament in Chicago.
