Illinois Basketball: 3 observations from the Illini win over Minnesota

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CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 30: Illinois Fighting Illini guard Ayo Dosunmu (11) shoots a jump shot between Minnesota Golden Gophers center Daniel Oturu (25) and Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Michael Hurt (42) during the Big Ten Conference college basketball game between the Minnesota Golden Gophers and the Illinois Fighting Illini on January 30, 2020, at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Allio/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

2. Contributors helped the Big 3

For the Illinois basketball team to be successful and make a deep run in the NCAA tournament, the Big 3 for the Illini will need to come through in every game. While they managed to put up points, the contributors for Illinois aided in this victory.

The leader of the Big 3 is Ayo Dosunmu. He finished the game against the Golden Gophers with 13 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists. His shooting wasn’t great, only going 4-of-12 from the field, but he was able to get to the free throw line.

Kofi Cockburn is the muscle out of the Big 3. His presence in the paint is something to marvel at for Illini fans. He finished the Minnesota game with 13 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. He had a below-average shooting game going 5-of-11 from the field, but he made all three of his free throws.

The sniper out of the Big 3 is Trent Frazier. Sometimes he has great games and sometimes he can struggle from deep. He ended up with 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field and 2-of-7 from three-point range. Shooters shoot, so I don’t want Frazier to get hesitant. He is extremely important and we needed every point he scored.

Illinois’ Big 3 carries this team and then we sprinkle in contributors. I think it is fair to say the contributors came through big on Thursday night. The Big 3 only had 61-percent of our points, 28-percent of the rebounds and 30-percent of the assists. This was a true team win.

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