CHAMPAIGN — Andrej Stojaković couldn’t help but grin at the podium when teammate Kylan Boswell recalled his role in Stojaković‘s recruitment over the summer.

When Boswell found out head coach Brad Underwood and the rest of the Illinois staff were interested in pursuing him in the portal, he immediately started “harassing” him.

“That’s not even a joke. Immediately, I started calling this dude. I was probably bugging this kid,” Boswell said. “He was one of my favorite players that I watched over the summer… big shoutout to me for doing that.”

“I guess I’m glad he harassed me,” Stojaković replied.

It seems there was a good reason for Boswell’s emphatic push. In the waning seconds of No. 14 Illinois’ intense first true test of the season against No. 11 Texas Tech at a packed State Farm Center, Stojaković had the opportunity to seal the deal with a late basket in the paint.

He missed, and it seemed Illinois would have to scratch and claw its way through another gritty possession, facing a JT Toppin that was well on his way to a 35-point performance and one of the best guards in the country in Christian Anderson.

Except they didn’t.

In the immediate moments following Stojaković’s missed bucket, he responded with a forced turnover and then followed it with the game-sealing block against Anderson.

“All of last year, trailing guards were something the coaches were harping on and being able to get a weak-side contest,” Stojaković said. “Using my length to go through screens and rear-view contesting, that’s something I can bring to this team, and that was one of those plays where I showed I could do it.“

In only his second game of the season, coming back from injury and with his father, former NBA player Peja Stojaković, in attendance, Andrej had his signature performance.

Throughout the night, Stojaković had key momentum-swinging moments. He drew a key and one to extend a shortened lead in the middle of the second half, and shot 11-for-16 from the field on Tuesday night.

“When your dad is one of the greatest shooters in the history of the game, not that [Andrej] is a bad shooter, but he’s a downhill athletic driver,” Underwood said. “Mom’s genes are in there somewhere; it’s just a nice feeling to see their interaction and how close they are, his mom and dad just raised a terrific son.”

Stojaković ended the night with 23 points, three rebounds, and an assist through 23 minutes against the Red Rangers.

The part the stat sheet won’t tell you is that Stojaković had missed seven weeks of practice before his debut, and he was supposed to play five fewer minutes than he actually did because of limited conditioning. The seven weeks of practice Stojaković missed are something Underwood, in particular, laments.

“The sad thing for me is that I didn’t get to demand for seven weeks that he guard at a very high level,” Underwood explained. “My whole premise going into the summer was to make him an elite wing defender and hold him to that.”

Stojaković’s road to return was expected, given his abundance of collegiate experience. He’s been in big spots before and has played against high-level competition. His offensive production was the primary reason behind his recruitment, but his defense has become an overlooked part of his game.

“I think he’s got a chance with Kylan and Keaton and has the chance to be one of the better defenders for us,” Underwood said.

Through three regular-season games, the program has passed all of its tests, though narrowly passing Tuesday’s contest. The team seems to have jelled immediately despite several injuries.

While it helps that four other players on the roster are also Balkan, Stojaković already had a relationship with Boswell before arriving in Champaign. The two are so close that they even took a trip to Greece together. Their relationship continues to flourish in Champaign.

“He met all my people and we’ve been great so far,” Stojaković said.