Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Indiana

Illinois basketball struggled greatly on Saturday night but ended up sneaking by the Indiana Hoosiers.

It was a pretty ugly game for most Illini players. The game was in limbo for much of the night before Illinois proved to be too much for the Hoosiers. The Illini put their foot on the pedal and cruised to a 69-60 win over Indiana.

Here are four observations from the Illini win over Indiana.

1. It is the Kofi and Ayo show

Entering the 2020-21 campaign, everyone knew Illinois had two great players on their team. Kofi Cockburn and Ayo Dosunmu were going to lead this program.

On Saturday night against Indiana, Kofi and Ayo weren’t just the leaders of the Illini. They were the heart and soul of this team.

Illinois managed to put up a season-low 69 points in the victory against the Hoosiers. Out of those 69 points, Ayo contributed 30 points on 11-of-17 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from three-point land. Kofi wasn’t too far behind the talented guard in the scoring department either.

While it wasn’t one of his better scoring nights, Kofi still had a solid 15 points on an efficient 6-of-12 shooting from the field. He was also 3-of-4 from the free throw line, which has been a bugaboo for the talented big man the entire season.

So, when you break down the scoring production from the victory over Indiana, Kofi and Ayo contributed 45 out of the 69 points for the Illini. That comes out to 65-percent of the points belonged to those two superstars. I am not a huge fan of the percentage that high, but when the team is struggling, these two can carry us to a victory.