Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini victory over Minnesota

Feb 20, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) in action while Minnesota Golden Gophers center Liam Robbins (0) and forward Brandon Johnson (23) defend in the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 20, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) in action while Minnesota Golden Gophers center Liam Robbins (0) and forward Brandon Johnson (23) defend in the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 20, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Marcus Carr (5) drives to the basket while Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) defends in the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 20, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Marcus Carr (5) drives to the basket while Illinois Fighting Illini guard Trent Frazier (1) defends in the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports /

2. This was a complete team effort

Kofi Cockburn was the leader for the Illini in the win over Minnesota on Saturday. There is no question about that. He is a massive mismatch for the Gophers.

But let’s not get things confused, this was a complete team effort by the Illinois basketball program. Let’s first look at the Illini starters.

Four of the five Illinois starters scored double-digit points and each player had at least 12 points. The starters also shot 28-of-48 from the field, which is one of their best shooting performances of the season.

Even the one starter who didn’t score in double-digits, Adam Miller, still contributed in various other ways. Miller was hustling the entire game and added 4 rebounds and 3 assists. I was happy with what we got from Miller.

Now onto the bench. Illinois’ bench performed very well, led by Giorgi Bezhanishvili. Giorgi finished the game with 9 points and 3 rebounds. He was a great option to go to when Kofi was too tired to continue dominating.

Andre Curbelo and Da’Monte Williams were also tremendous assets off the bench. Belo finished with 4 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists. He was all over the court, and he only had 1 turnover in the game. I was impressed. Williams was also great with 3 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists.

Overall, this was a great team win. I needed to see this especially after struggling in the past two games against below-average programs.