CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Center Tomislav Ivisic will be sidelined for a second-straight game on Sunday against the Wildcats.

Head Coach Brad Underwood says Ivisic has mononucleosis.

“He’s not contagious, he’s beyond that,” Underwood said.

“He was really sick in the Michigan State game and then was diagnosed after… we’ll see what his timeline is.”

Illinois really missed the 7-footer in the Maryland game when the Illini gave up a combined 52 points and 23 rebounds to Maryland’s Julian Reese and Derik Queen.

Underwood said the rest of the team’s health has improved after Tre White and Will Riley were questionable with illness before Thursday’s game against the Terps.

Next up for Illinois is a rematch with Northwestern, after the Illini fell to the Cats on December 6 70-66 in overtime in Evanston.

Underwood thinks his team has gotten better defensively since that opening game of Big Ten play with more bench players involved now, but they’ll need to adjust without Ivisic on the floor.

“(We’ve) maybe changed as much for the better as anybody in the in the league over that time frame,” Underwood said.

We’ve got to make some changes, without Tomi, there’s no doubt about that, but I think we’re doing a lot of things much better than we were in December.”

Illinois faces Northwestern on Sunday, January 26 at 2:00 p.m. on BTN.