Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Northwestern

In a tale of two halves, the Illinois basketball team rallied back to defeat Northwestern after trailing the Wildcats by as many as 16 points in Evanston.

The Illini did not start this one off well.  Sloppy offense and lost assignments on defense would allow Northwestern to take a commanding double-digit halftime lead. However, the Illini came out of halftime a completely different team and would absolutely explode to ultimately win the game by a score of 81-56, making for a historic night.

With a win, the Illini improved to 9-3 on the season and 5-1 in Big Ten play, which has them currently ranked second in the conference.

Here are four observations from the Illini’s comeback victory over Northwestern.

1. Another big night from Kofi Cockburn:

Kofi Cockburn has been an absolute monster for the Fighting Illini this season.  Cockburn is averaging 17 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game for Illinois so far on the year.

Cockburn has been especially dominant in Big Ten play, averaging 20 points and 11.3 rebounds in each of the six conference games the Illini have played so far this season.

The reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year continued his dominance in last night’s victory versus the Wildcats.  Cockburn would take advantage of the Northwestern zone defense by scoring 18 points and converting on 8-of-9 field goal attempts on the night.  This includes a dominant performance in the second half where he would score 13 of his 18 points by shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the floor.

Cockburn also recorded 12 rebounds and 2 blocks in the Illini’s roadkill at the Welsh Ryan Arena.