Jun. 19—Illinois was deliberate in its pursuit of Andrej Stojakovic this offseason. In need of a wing scorer (with size) with Will Riley off to the NBA draft, the Illini made the California transfer a priority once he hit the portal.

For good reason. Stojakovic averaged 17.9 points and 4.7 rebounds for the Golden Bears in a proverbial breakout sophomore season after transferring from Stanford.

“He’s an elite athlete,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said of Stojakovic. “He’s gifted athletically. He’s what I call a very, very good head rammer. He’s a terrific finisher with either hand. Finishes 12 feet and in maybe as well as anybody that we’ve had. He’s got great strength. I think once he has some time with (strength and conditioning coach Adam Fletcher) that will continue to grow.”

But how well can he shoot? That’s a question, particularly after last season’s team-wide struggles from three-point range, that has to be asked. The answer is Stojakovic didn’t shoot the ball that well at Stanford (32.7 percent on 3.3 attempts per game) or California (31.8 percent on 4.4 attempts per game).

“I think he’s an underrated shooter,” Underwood said. “Obviously, the comparisons to his dad aren’t fair. His dad (13-year NBA veteran Peja Stojakovic) is one of the great shooters in the history of the game. But I think he’s had to take a lot of hard shots. I think he’s a really good shooter. I think he’ll be a high 30s, low 40s type guy. What he does — his versatility to live in the paint and have the ability to finish in the mid-range — makes him pretty special.”

He’s got a great understanding. When you want to be a next-level guy, I thikn the easiest to do is understand you can get there defensively.