Illinois Basketball: 3 observations from the Illini win over Penn State

3. This was a great team win

I pointed out both Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn as two players who impressed me in the win over No. 9 Penn State. While these two players were sensational, this was really a complete team win.

I can see it now. People are going to rip into me saying this wasn’t a team win, look how many points Ayo had. Yes, Ayo went off for 24 points, which is incredible. But if you stand back and look at everything, this was really a team win.

The Illinois bench came through. Alan Griffin finished the game with 9 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the field and 2-of-4 from three-point range. He also had 4 rebounds and 2 steals on the night. His presence was huge for the Illini.

Illinois played a total of eight players on Tuesday night and each player besides for Kipper Nichols had at least four rebounds. Not a single player had more than two turnovers either. This was a display of solid basketball.

Let’s look at the individual stats a little more. Ayo led the Illini in scoring with 24 points. Kofi and Andres Feliz led the team in rebounds with seven rebounds each. Da’Monte Williams led the team with four assists and two blocks on the night. Griffin led the team with two steals.

Overall, this was a great performance by the Illini. We won this game with big-time scoring by Ayo, but it wasn’t just him. The entire team played a role in this victory. If we can do this in every game, the rest of the season should be very interesting to watch.