Published on November 17, 2025 8:05 am
Last Updated on November 17, 2025 8:05 am
By UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Fighting Illini forward David Mirkovic has jumped out to an impressive start to his collegiate career. But the true freshman from Montenegro took his game to another level on Friday night with a 27-point, 21-rebound performance to lead No. 14 Illinois (4-0) to an 84-65 win over Colgate (1-3) in front of a sold-out State Farm crowd.
Mirkovic etched his name among some Illini greats in the win. His monster game marked the first 20+-point, 20+-rebound game by an Illini in almost 53 years – since Nick Weatherspoon went for 37 points and 22 rebounds vs. DePauw on Dec. 2, 1972. He also broke Illinois’ single-game freshman rebounding record of 17 boards set twice by Kofi Cockburn during the 2019-20 season.
Mirkovic entered the game as one of two freshmen this season, along with Duke’s Cameron Boozer, to average better than 15.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per contest. With his final stat line vs. the Raiders, he became the just the fourth freshman nationally in the last 21 years to record at least 27 points and 21 rebounds in a game, joining Marvin Bagley III for Duke (32 points and 21 rebounds on Dec. 30, 2017 vs. Florida State), Michael Beasley twice for Kansas State (32 points and 24 rebounds vs. Sacramento State on Nov. 9, 2007, 28 points and 22 rebounds vs. Western Illinois on Nov. 17, 2007), and Kevin Durant fo
Behind Mirkovic, fellow freshman, guard Keaton Wagler, continued his sensational start to the season with 19 points and six rebounds. Nine of Wagler’s 19 came on 11 attempts from the free-throw line.
Kylan Boswell (11 points) and Ben Humrichous (10 points) also posted double-digit scoring games for the Illini who were outshot by Colgate, 37.7% to 41.9%, but posted a +20 rebounding margin (49-29).
The Illini jumped out to a 19-11 lead early in the contest before a Colgate run knotted the game, 28-28, at the 4-minute mark of the first half. Illinois responded, however, with a 13-2 run to close out the half with a 41-30 lead.
Out of the break, the Illini continued to steadily pull away from the Raiders and built a 19-point edge, 57-38, with just under 15 minutes left to play. A Mirkovic triple at the 4:35 mark gave Illinois its biggest lead of the night at 24 points, 78-54, before the Orange and Blue closed out the 19-point victory.
Next up, the Illini head to Chicago for a top-10 matchup vs. No. 8 Alabama at United Center next Wednesday. Tickets are on sale now for the contest which is slated to tip off at 8 p.m. CT on FS1.