The hope around Champaign after Illinois’ 91-70 home loss to Maryland – in which center Tomislav Ivisic sat out due to illness and several other Illini were slowed by a bug – was that the worst was over for the team.

But the news delivered by coach Brad Underwood in his Saturday press conference suggests the Illini may still be in the thick of it: Ivisic, initially thought to be suffering from strep throat, has been diagnosed with mononucleosis and will not play in Illinois’ home game against Northwestern on Sunday.

And Underwood’s assessment of Ivisic’s health didn’t exactly raise the prospects of his swift return.

“Tomi will not play again tomorrow – Tomi has got mono,” Underwood said. “He’s not contagious. He’s beyond that. You know, he was really sick in the Michigan State game, and then was diagnosed after. So we’ll see what his timeline is. He’s feeling better, but obviously that’s something that [is] unfortunate, bad break. … So beyond that, we’ll just leave it at that.”

As for Ivisic’s teammates – notably Tre White and Will Riley, who were singled out as having missed practice or been affected by illness leading up to the Terrapins game – Underwood was (somewhat) more upbeat:

“We’ve been fighting it, but they’ll all play,” he said. “At least, as of today, they were all in practice. We were on a pretty good run of Tamiflu, and as anybody out there knows, if you want to try to go exert a lot of energy when you’ve got a fever, it’s not a very comfortable thing. Like I said, we’re better, though, I think.”

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