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Behind every college athlete’s recruitment is a lead recruiter. And behind every lead recruiter, there’s a story to be told.
Illinois associate head coach Orlando Antigua’s story is unique.
On Halloween night in 1988, Antigua was shot in the head near his left eye during a drive-by shooting in the Bronx when he was just a sophomore in high school. Antigua would go on to make a full recovery in just two months and would later be awarded the Most Courageous Award from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association in 1994.
He played his first two seasons of collegiate basketball at the University of Pittsburgh with that bullet still lodged in his head. Upon graduation in 1995, Antigua would become the first Hispanic athlete to compete for the Harlem Globetrotters, a role he kept until he began his coaching career in 2002 at Mount Lebanon High School in Pennsylvania.
Nicknamed “Hurricane,” Antigua became the associate head coach at Illinois in late 2024. This marked his second stint in Champaign, after he was an assistant coach for the Fighting Illini from 2017-21. Along with his multiple tenures at Illinois, Antigua also coached at the University of Kentucky on two separate occasions, first from 2009-13 and then from 2021-24.
When Antigua returned to Illinois in 2024, he brought a new recruiting strategy with him.
“We started looking at different countries that were basketball-rich and trying to recruit those areas,” Antigua stated. “They’re only playing two games a week [overseas], but they’re practicing all week. They’re unselfish. They play extremely hard. You can coach them hard. So, all of those factors come into play.”
In the 2024 offseason, Antigua got straight to work. Illinois brought in Canadian Will Riley, Lithuanian Kasparas Jakučionis, and Croatian Tomislav Ivišić. All three first-year players made a major impact immediately, leading the Fighting Illini to a No. 6 seed in the 2025 NCAA Tournament.
Jakučionis would be selected 20th overall in the 2025 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat, with teammate Will Riley being selected right after with the 21st pick by the Utah Jazz, although his draft rights would be traded to the Washington Wizards shortly after. Tomislav Ivišić returned to school after a productive first season.
“He’s the GOAT,” Illinois head coach Brad Underwood said about Antigua. “I mean that. He’s as good as there is. He’s got great humor. He makes me laugh, but he is a tremendous relationship person. He’s a great communicator.
“He’s a very good basketball coach, but he’s an unbelievable communicator and connector of people. And that’s invaluable today,” Underwood said. “He walks into a room, he walks into a gym, he knows everybody, and he can talk to everybody. He’s got a great demeanor and personality.”
When Antigua was at the University of Kentucky, he recruited Zvonimir Ivišić, twin brother of Tomislav, who committed to the Wildcats in 2023. Zvonimir’s player archetype fits the mold of a coach’s dream in modern-day basketball. A 7-foot-2-inch center who can shoot, pass, dribble, rebound and block shots does not come around very often, and Antigua knew it.
“Z had the higher ceiling early on,” Antigua said. “He’s always been that way. Z was also more willing at the time to come over” to the U.S.
Antigua said his brother Tommy is “a little bit more traditional. Moves a little bit slower on things. He’s more intentional.”
Both Antigua and Zvonimir Ivišić would leave Lexington after John Calipari’s departure in April 2024. A year later, Zvonimir reunited with Antigua at the University of Illinois, but this time, Antigua had both Ivišić twins.
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“They shared a womb,” Antigua said, laughing, when asked about his approach to reunite the brothers. “It was easy. We just wanted to make sure it was something they both wanted to do, and that it would work. They’ve been able to handle it with the ups and downs of the season, and I couldn’t be happier. They continue to work and get better.”
Zvonimir Ivišić was not the only international recruit to enter the Fighting Illini program last offseason. Antigua and Illinois doubled down on their international recruitment success in 2024. Montenegrin David Mirković, Serbian Mihailo Petrović, and Serbian Andrej Stojaković all committed to play for Illinois during the 2025-26 season.
The international recruitment did not stop there.
Croatian forward Toni Bilić joined the Illinois roster in mid-December, though he is yet to play in a game and plans to focus only on strength training and development in preparation for the 2026-27 season campaign.
Antigua spoke to the success that Illinois has had due to its consistent international recruitment.
“It’s been phenomenal for us,” he said. “Illinois, it’s a name that’s worldwide now. When we first got to Illinois, we wanted to tap into that name recognition,” he said. Illinois head coach Brad Underwood “is a coach that looks for players and doesn’t care where they come from. As long as they can pass, dribble, shoot, are very unselfish and play hard.”
Illinois is not the only program that has tapped into the European market, but it is confidently leading that field due to Antigua’s unique skillset. The United States is just a small subset of the total world population, and due to the changes made in the NIL portal era, the NCAA has become a viable option for Europe’s top collegiate-aged talent. Illinois has excelled at finding those prospects.
“I think this has given, not just us, but college athletics, an avenue of saying, ‘Okay, yeah. We could probably try to emulate or duplicate some of that [international recruiting].’ You can see the influx of [European] kids on every level in basketball,” Antigua said.
In the second season of Antigua’s return, Illinois now finds itself in the 2026 Final Four. Led by international recruits (and two American guards), the Illini look to win their first national championship in the NCAA Tournament era. It’s the first Final Four for the Fighting Illini since 2005 and the sixth in school history.
Antigua was asked if he would continue overseas recruitment in future seasons.
“Um … yeah. I think so,” he joked.
Carter Jones writes for the Sports Capital Journalism Program at IU Indianapolis.
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