Brad Underwood rounded out his offseason with a big portal splash.

Andrej Stojakovic comes to Champaign as one of the center pieces of an Illini roster that with his presence, is now fully equipped to contend atop the Big Ten once again. He was the last missing puzzle piece — and a big one — to the Illini’s latest roster building venture.

And he may just be the most exciting one of them all.

Aside from the obvious pro bloodlines from his All-Star father, Stojakovic is already a heck of a college basketball player in his own right. Surrounding himself with far more talent and spacing than he’s had in either of his first two years should only make him better and perhaps even unlock a whole new level of his game.

Andrej Stojakovic — 6-foot-7, 205 pounds

Among all else, Stojakovic is simply a bucket-getter. He was one when he was a McDonald’s All American and 4-star prospect out of Jesuit High School in California, and he’s still one now. In fact, his very final impression as a Golden Bear was a 37-point outburst in the ACC Tournament against Stanford in a dazzling postseason display, which was far from the first big time scoring output he delivered.

The efficiency hasn’t been great through two seasons, but there’s little reason for concern. At Cal, Stojakovic had nearly everything on his plate offensively and was asked to carry an offense void of many secondary options, leading to a lot of tough shots. The hope is that with more spacing around him and some pressure taken off his shoulders with the Illini’s plethora of options, he can improve his percentages from all areas.

Stojakovic does the majority of his damage from inside the arc attacking the paint, attempting 43% of his shots at the rim, cashing in at a 55% clip. He’s a bit of an underrated athlete — certainly not a great one, but he can show some quick burst off the dribble at times and fly to the rim when the opportunity is there.

Where he really thrives, though, is with his craftiness and patience inside with the ball in his hands. He’s very savvy at using his size to score over the top of defenders and can hit you with an array moves to maneuver his way to the basket. He’s a good finisher who can score from a variety of angles with both hands. He’s extremely slippery, having shown a supremely impressive feel and excellent footwork when it comes to finding ways to create advantages for himself in one-on-one matchups.

That ability will be key for this Illini offense, providing it a true go-to guy who can create shots individually. The Illini’s spacing with the Ivisic brothers stretching the floor at the five spot should allow Stojakovic ample opportunity to operate.

Many may immediately think deadeye shooter when they hear the last name Stojakovic, but Andrej hasn’t quite been that so far. He’s capable of knocking down shots, even if he’s got a bit of a low and slow release, and he was thought to be a high-level shooter as a high school prospect. But it’s been inconsistent at the college level so far.

In total, he’s shot 32.2% from long range over his two seasons. He was shooting nearly 42% through the end of the nonconference slate last season before really struggling during ACC play. He’s actually shot a significantly better percentage on off-the-dribble threes than on catch-and-shoot attempts (although on much lower volume), which indicates he’s certainly got shot making ability and realistically room to make them more consistently in an offense that should generate him better looks more often.

He’ll have plenty of freedom to get off his shots playing for Underwood and the Illini. Improving the shooting numbers will be a key in maximizing his production.

His mid-range game could become a real weapon as well. He hasn’t been very efficient shooting them to this point, but he definitely has shown the ability to create space off the dribble and rise and fire over defenders seamlessly.

He especially likes to get them off matched up with smaller guards and in post ups. Perhaps a return to booty ball could be in the cards?

It will be interesting to see what Stojakovic’s usage looks like for Illinois paired with the rest of the roster’s pieces. The Illini have two very capable ball handlers and playmakers in Mihailo Petrovic and Kylan Boswell, something last season’s Cal team sorely lacked. Thus, Stojakovic was often tasked with initiating action for the Golden Bears and serving as a primary creator on offense, with a fair amount of ball screen usage as well as a healthy dose of dribble handoffs.

Illinois should be able to take some of that burden off his shoulders, but Stojakovic was also clearly brought in to be one of — if not the — top offensive option in the Illini offense. That means he’ll still likely have the ball in his hands often in various actions drawing lots of defensive attention, where he’s shown flashes of being able to read the floor and make plays alongside his obvious scoring prowess.

He had more turnovers than assists last season, but part of that can be chalked up to the lack of weaponry he was surrounded with and his heavy score-first approach. With more offensive talent spaced around him, it’s plausible he can take a jump from a passing perspective and be trusted as a secondary playmaker on the wing, much like Will Riley blossomed into by the second half of 2024-25.

An underrated aspect of Stojakovic’s game, one that took a gigantic leap from his freshman to sophomore seasons, is his ability to draw contact. He’s not a powerful driver yet still shot nearly six free throws per game last season thanks in large part to his ability to get defenders off balance so often. He also jumped from 52.8% all the way to 81.8% as a free throw shooter. This is a skill that Brad Underwood emphasizes and seeks out, so it’s no surprise that Stojakovic is steadily developing it.

One more thing to watch — Stojakovic cutting off the ball, an area he flashed at times last season. Playing alongside Tomislav Ivisic as a big man facilitator, he can be very useful as a cutter with his size and good instincts, just as Riley was a season ago.

Defensively, Stojakovic is definitely up-and-down, but there’s potential for him to be a legitimate plus on that end of the floor. He’s got plenty of length and uses it well to contest and block shots, averaging 1.2 blocks per game with a 3.7% block rate a season ago. Overall, he graded out as an above average defender according to the advanced metrics during his season at Cal, though nothing spectacular.

His biggest struggles come when matched up with explosive guards and more athletic perimeter players, but he began taking on top defensive assignments late last season for the Golden Bears and fared fine with most of them. He navigates screens well and generally has good lateral quickness. He also was a solid defensive rebounder, something Illinois will surely challenge him to emphasize even more to create opportunities to push the pace.

It’s safe to assume Stojakovic won’t hurt Illinois on the defensive end as is, and with even more physical development with Illini strength coach Adam Fletcher there’s a path for him to become a legitimately good college defender.

The addition of Stojakovic should greatly excite Illini fans and serve as a worthy headliner to another highly successful offseason haul for Brad Underwood and Co. He’s supremely talented and fits the mold of the type of high usage wing that has thrived in the highly ranked Illinois offense in recent seasons.

Stojakovic has already proven himself as a productive college scorer, but jumping aboard a winning program for the first time in his career around a cast of teammates that perfectly complement his skillset should give him every opportunity to thrive. And if the progression he already made between his first two seasons is any indication, he could very well be in for a monster junior campaign in Champaign.

A home run addition for the Illini.