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Illinois Basketball: 4 big statistics from the Illini victory over Minnesota

By Rees Woodcock

Feb 20, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Jacob Grandison (3) in action while Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Both Gach (11) defends in the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 20, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini guard Jacob Grandison (3) in action while Minnesota Golden Gophers guard Both Gach (11) defends in the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 20, 2021; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) passes the ball to guard Jacob Grandison (3) while Minnesota Golden Gophers forward Brandon Johnson (23) and guard Marcus Carr (5) defend in the first half at Williams Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Berding-USA TODAY Sports /

3. 4-of-4

There isn’t a ton that is going wrong for Illinois basketball right now. They seem to be clicking on all cylinders. But one issue that has been on the minds of fans has been free throw shooting.

The biggest culprit of bad free throw shooting has been Kofi Cockburn. Opposing teams are starting to Hack-a-Kofi, which sends the big man to the free throw line. Minnesota learned quickly, that maybe that wasn’t such a good idea on Saturday, though.

Kofi ended up going 4-of-4 from the charity stripe against the Gophers.

In the three games leading up to the matchup against Minnesota, Kofi had failed to hit 60-percent of his free throws in any of the three contests. He was 50-percent against Wisconsin, 58.3-percent against Nebraska and 50-percent against Northwestern.

Clearly, though, Kofi had been working on his free throw shooting since the game against the Wildcats. This was the first time he attempted at least four free throws and shot 100-percent from the charity stripe this season.

Kofi hitting free throws is something no opposing teams want to see. Illinois doesn’t have too many weaknesses, and if they eliminate one of the weaknesses they do have in free throw shooting, this could be the team to beat come March and April.

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