By IlliniGuys Staff

February 15, 2026

(Cover photo courtesy Illinois Athletics)

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - While the basketball world gushes - and rightly so - over star Illinois freshman Keaton Wagler, his classmate David Mirkovic reminded the nation that he deserves recognition as one of the top rookies in college basketball.

Mirkovic scored 15 of his career Big Ten-high 25 points in the first half to help Illinois build a 38-31 lead at intermission. The Illini then opened the second half on a 16-5 run to take a 54-36 advantage and carried that to a 71-51 victory over Indiana Sunday afternoon at State Farm Center.

Mirkovic added seven rebounds to key a 38-25 Illinois advantage on the boards as the Illini length posed problems for Indiana all afternoon, resulting in 14 offensive rebounds. He's scored in double digits with at least six rebounds in nine consecutive games.

Wagler finished with 18 points for his 18th consecutive double-digit effort in a game that marked the return of backcourt running mate Kylan Boswell. The senior guard has missed the last seven games with a broken right hand, but tallied nine points and seven rebounds in 33 minutes and keyed a defensive performance that limited Indiana to just 6-of-24 from three-point range.

Tomislav Ivisic scored 14 points, 12 of them in the second half. He hit just 1-of-6 from three-point range, where Illinois struggled overall with just 7-of-31 from the arc. It's the third game this season that Illinois failed to make 25 percent of its three-point attempts, losing to UConn (20.7 percent) and beating Penn State (22.2 percent)

Lamar Wilkerson scored 21 points to lead Indiana (17-9, 8-7 in Big Ten).

The win breaks a two-game slide for Illinois (21-5, 12-3 in Big Ten), which heads to California for a Wednesday tilt at USC (9pm CT, BTN).