Illinois is coming off a massive victory to open the season, defeating Fairleigh Dickinson 120-45. The 75-point victory saw Illinois break multiple school records in the process of obtaining the win.
Now, the team has learned they will be without one of their starters, according to Kyle Tausk of IlliniOn247.
“Illini senior wing Jake Davis is out indefinitely after having surgery this morning on a separated shoulder, Brad Underwood announces,” Tausk posted on X, formerly Twitter.
Davis started 22 games and played 37 with Illinois in 2025-26. He scored 5.4 points per game with 2.2 rebounds and .7 assists. He played just six minutes in the season opener, scoring two points and adding three rebounds and an assist. Davis is in his senior year. He started his career at Mercer before transferring to Illinois for the 2024-25 season.
On Monday, in the game with Fairleigh Dickinson, he was trying to fight through a screen when he was injured. He immediately clutched his left shoulder and left the floor, heading to the locker room. Davis did not return to the game. Right after the game, Brad Underwood spoke of the injury.
Article Continues Below“It doesn’t sound great,” Underwood told the media after the game. “It’s a shoulder injury. I don’t know the whole diagnosis yet. But it didn’t sound great.”
Illinois is also without David Mirkovic, who had offseason foot surgery. He also recently had an emergency appendectomy, which set back the timeline for his return. This means the only key players currently on the court from the Final Four run are Andrej Stojakovic, Zvonimir Ivisic, and Tomislav Ivisic.