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3 hours ago
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After playing the first two years of his college basketball career in the state of California, Andrej Stojakovic is taking his game to the Midwest.
Stojakovic, the son of former NBA star Peja Stojakovic, announced on social media that he's transferring to Illinois. He'll have two years of eligibility with the Fighting Illini.
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The 6-foot-5 guard will play for his third school in three seasons. Stojakovic played last season with California, for whom he averaged 17.9 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. He shot 32% on 129 3-point attempts. In 2023-24, he played for Stanford, averaging 7.8 points per game as a freshman.
Returning to Stanford was under consideration for Stojakovic, who was also looking at North Carolina as a possible destination. At Illinois, he'll become the team's leading scorer, based on last season's numbers. Freshman Kasparas Jakucionis led the Illini last season with 15 points per game, but is moving on after declaring for the NBA Draft.
The Illini finished 22-13 overall last season, finishing seventh at 12-8 in the Big Ten. Coach Brad Underwood's squad qualified for the NCAA tournament as a No. 6 seed in the Midwest Region and defeated Xavier before falling to Kentucky in the second round.
"Coach Underwood has been very aggressive recruiting me from the start and constantly reiterating how much I'm wanted and needed as a basketball player there," Stojakovic told ESPN. "They really believe I'm the missing piece to what they think is a national championship team."
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Additionally, Stojakovic cited Underwood's record of developing guards at Illinois, allowing players including Ayo Dosunmu, T.J. Shannon and Jakucionis to both handle the ball up the court and play off the ball as shooters.
International players will comprise a large part of Illinois' roster next season with Stojakovic joining Mihailo Petrovic and David Mirkovic from Serbia and Croatian brothers Zvonimir and Tomislav Ivisic from Croatia.
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