Illinois Basketball Injury and Illness Updates Ahead of Minnesota Game

So what kind of shape are the Illini in as they roll into Minneapolis for Saturday's matchup against middling but still-dangerous Minnesota (12-11, 4-8)?

"Lot of flu still going around. Tre's better," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said before Friday's practice. "He'll be in practice today. But we've got Draven Gibbs-Lawhorn – Draven's out with it."

Ivisic at least has a shot to play against the Golden Gophers, but Underwood didn't sound especially upbeat about his prospects.

"Tomi 's ankle is a factor," he said. "Don't have any idea what his status will be at this point, but he's not practicing. Very swollen. So we'll see what his status is before."

After Underwood redoubled his efforts to get his big man involved coming out of halftime against Rutgers, Ivisic began to find his groove, scoring four of Illinois' first eight points out of the break – and then turned the ankle. He returned after a five-minute stretch, but he was clearly affected and wasn't able to offer much down the stretch.

"He's a tough S.O.B., because that sucker was swollen up right away," Underwood said of Ivisic. "He said he could go, so we got him taped. The pretty special thing about Tomi – ultra-competitive, very, very mature. He kind of has the mentality where he's always thinking about others. He knew we needed him."

Frankly, the Illini desperately need Ivisic's presence the rest of the way, which is why it's a smart bet that he'll give it a go against Minnesota. But with an upcoming stretch of UCLA, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Duke on the schedule for Illinois, Underwood may pull the plug if he senses Ivisic isn't ready and could do more extensive damage that keeps him out longer.

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