CHICAGO — The Balkans theme for Illinois’ basketball team this season is fun and easy to enjoy, even if some students are so geographically challenged they couldn’t find the Balkan region on a map of Europe if you spotted them Greece.

The Illini have five players who hail from the Balkans, including returning center Tomislav Ivišić, the O.G. of the so-called “Balkan Five,” and newcomers David Mirković, Andrej Stojaković, Mihailo Petrović and Zvonimir Ivišić, the twin brother of Tomislav.

As Borat would say, “Very nice.”

After bringing in Stojaković, a transfer from California, Brad Underwood, a veteran coach with a gift for recruiting and social media, created an AI-generated photo of himself wearing an orange Nike track suit. He was squatting in front of a drab apartment complex that looked like a relic of the Cold War, pretending to be some sort of Eastern European bad guy.

The Illini coach then posted it to his social media account, creating a meme that quickly became a recurring theme. Another AI meme surfaced showing Underwood with five young, tough-looking guys in the same drab setting, with all but Underwood dangling a cigarette from their mouths, looking like a criminal gang messing with Liam Neeson’s family in one of his action films.

It’s all part of the new, softer Underwood, a coach who seemingly made the pained expression into an art form in his earlier days in Champaign.

The Illini moved up to No. 8 in the rankings on four blowout wins and the promise of the newcomers, and headed into Wednesday’s showdown at the United Center against No. 11 Alabama with plenty of optimism. The Big Ten is wide open, and this could be their best chance since Ayo Dosunmu left.

“They’ve gone to the Balkan region and gotten some pretty good, tough players,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “They’ve kind of found a niche, bringing those Balkan players over and it’s worked for them. This could be one of the best teams in the country this year.”

But a 90-86 loss to the Crimson Tide in their first real test of the season brought the Illini back to earth, disappointing a raucous crowd of 17,775 who turned out on the West Side.

“We have to understand how not to lose,” Underwood said afterward.

Easier said than done. Underwood pointed to missed free throws, a costly lane violation down the stretch and unforced errors that resulted in turnovers. A winnable game was lost, and a lesson was learned.

Labaron Philon Jr. led Alabama with 24 points, including nine straight for the Crimson Tide at one point in the final three minutes to keep the Illini at bay. Missed free throws hurt Illinois, which went 13 of 22 from the line, including 9 for 16 in the second half. Stojaković missed three down the stretch.

“Shoot, if they make their free throws, they probably win,” Oats said.

Underwood said the Illini took good shots, though they went 3 for 12 from beyond the arc in the second half.

“The good thing is we got fouled,” Underwood said. “The bad thing is we got fouled.”

So the Illini are seemingly still a work in progress. They have a ways to go before they can call themselves serious contenders for a Final Four, even as Oats insisted they were championship material.

The Illini certainly will need more from Tomislav Ivišić, who missed the last three games with a bone bruise on his knee and received a huge ovation from the orange-clad crowd when he entered off the bench four minutes into the first half. He didn’t get into the flow offensively in limited minutes and didn’t score until hitting a 3-pointer nine minutes into the second, which was his only basket of the night.

“We need Tomi,” Underwood said. “We need his passing, we need his facilitating, we need his brains.”

For a while it looked as though the Illini could outmuscle the smaller Alabama team. A block by Ben Humrichous led to a fast break that ended in a flying Stojaković slam at the 12 1/2 minute mark of the first half, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Stojaković, the son of former NBA star Peja Stojaković, scored 12 of his 26 points in the first half, as the Illini held off the Crimson Tide’s surge and led 42-41 going into the locker room. But the Illini went cold at the start of the second, and started out 4 of 18 from the field to trail by six, 56-50, with 11:51 left. All eight Illini points were courtesy of Kylan Boswell, while the rest of the team combined to go 0 for 10.

It took Stojaković’s one-man show to get them back into it. His layup with 5:15 left made it a three-point game. But he missed a free throw, Philon hit a 3, and a Stojaković turnover led to an easy layup that gave the Tide an eight-point lead again at 72-64.

The Illini clawed back time after time, but Philon kept answering the call, and Illinois kept missing free throws. Stojaković and Boswell scored 34 of the team’s 44 second-half points, combining for 13-of-24 shooting. The rest were 3 for 13 from the field in the half.

Oats said Underwood “has changed, he’s evolved, he’s playing a very modern style of basketball.” That could be true, but the Illini have to stop making mistakes, both mental and physical, to be a top team.

“I love our team, I love where we’re going to be,” Underwood said.

Where they’re going to be in late March remains the big question. The Big Ten tournament will be played at the United Center next March, giving the Illini a potential home-court advantage — if they take advantage of it.

We won’t know for sure until the Big Ten season kicks into high gear after the new year. But this obviously is a team that could make noise again if the Balkan Five live up to their billing and Boswell continues to improve.

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