Writing Illini
Fansided

Illinois Basketball: Top 7 teams Kofi Cockburn dominated during Illini career

By Rees Woodcock

Dec 23, 2020; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) drives the ball to the basket as Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (21) defends during the first half at Bryce Jordan Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 23, 2020; University Park, Pennsylvania, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) drives the ball to the basket as Penn State Nittany Lions forward John Harrar (21) defends during the first half at Bryce Jordan Center. Mandatory Credit: Matthew OHaren-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
5 of 7
Next
CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 30: Kofi Cockburn #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini defends against the shot of Daniel Oturu #25 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers at State Farm Center on January 30, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
CHAMPAIGN, IL – JANUARY 30: Kofi Cockburn #21 of the Illinois Fighting Illini defends against the shot of Daniel Oturu #25 of the Minnesota Golden Gophers at State Farm Center on January 30, 2020 in Champaign, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

No. 3 Minnesota Golden Gophers

Minnesota has had some pretty talented teams over the past couple of years. They featured some great players during this time. But none of that mattered to Kofi. He saw the Golden Gophers and pounced on the opportunity to be special.

Overall, Illinois leads the series against Minnesota 77-48 in the 125 games they have played against each other. Since the mid-2000s, this has been a pretty even series, though.

Between the 2008-09 season and the 2015-16 season, Illinois was 9-5 against the Golden Gophers. That is a solid record against a team that can put together some nice runs. But, in the three years prior to Kofi arriving at Illinois, Minnesota got the best of the Illini with a 3-1 record. Much like every other team on this list, Kofi’s presence changed everything.

Kofi arrived on the scene and Illinois started winning again. The Illini have played Minnesota three times in the last two seasons and have a 3-0 record against the Golden Gophers. On top of the 3-0 record, Illinois has managed to win those three games by an average of 22 points in each contest.

You have to give a lot of credit for the recent success to Kofi and his abilities in the paint. Kofi averaged 22.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game against Minnesota during his career. The 22.7 points are the most against any team on this list as well.

In the history of Illinois basketball, I am not sure if we will ever see someone as dominant in the paint as Kofi was for this program. Just soak in the numbers mentioned above. He was incredible.

Home/Illinois Basketball