The Illinois basketball team dropped a close one at the RAC against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Sunday, 91-88.
In their second conference game of the season, the Illinois basketball team was unable to defeat the AP ranked No. 19 Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The Illini were up at the half, 41-37, but were outscored 54-47 in the second half, giving the Illini their third loss of the season.
The Offense: A
The Illini looked smooth the entire game with good possessions and good shot selection. This led to a 54-percent field goal rate and the Illini went 9-of-15 from three-point range.
We knew going into this game that it was going to be a dog fight, and the Big Ten is once again proving that it will be no walk in the park. Putting up 88 points against a good Rutgers team is nothing to scoff at.
The Defense: D
The defense is what really disappointed me in this one. Rutgers was able to shoot 47-percent from the field and had 15 offensive rebounds. They had 29 fastbreak points and took advantage of going to the free-throw line.
Rutgers shot 36 free throws compared to the Illini’s 15. As mentioned above, we knew this was going to be a dog fight, but Illinois cannot give up 91 points to Rutgers.
Ayo Dosunmu: A
Putting up another double-double, Ayo Dosunmu continues to roll. He had 22 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists against the Scarlet Knights. The junior guard keeps adding to his already impressive college basketball resume. Dosunmu continues to get good looks and open up shots for other players.
Tent Frazier: A-
I was extremely impressed with Frazier in this game. The senior stepped up with a big offensive game, scoring 19 points. He played a team-high 39 minutes against Rutgers. This is the kind of game I wanted to see from the senior.
Kofi Cockburn: B+
After a huge game against Minnesota, Cockburn followed it up with another impressive performance.
The center had 17 points, 7 rebounds and went 3-of-4 from the free-throw line. I would still like to have seen more aggressiveness out of the big man, but it seems like Cockburn might have found his groove after getting off to a slow start.
Da’Monte Williams: B
Williams had 12 points on Sunday, going 4-of-4 from the field. He had 2 rebounds and 2 assists as well.
Williams, more known for his defense, didn’t play as big of a role defensively in this one, knocking his grade down a notch.
Adam Miller: F
The freshman either seems to be red hot or ice cold, and he was ice cold against Rutgers.
Miller played 20 minutes in this one and had 0 points, 1 assist and 4 fouls. Of course, there will be some growing pains for the freshman, but games like these can be frustrating when Illinois was able to put up 88 points.
The Bench: B-
Illinois basketball had 18 points off their bench on Sunday, led by Giorgi Bezhanishvili who 11 points and 4 rebounds. The usual sparkplug off the bench, Andre Curbelo, only had four points in this one but still had five assists as well.