Welcome everyone to the 2021-22 Illinois basketball regular season.
The Illini welcomed the Jackson State Tigers to the State Farm Center to kick off the regular season on Tuesday night.
Illinois came into the game shorthanded, as they were missing four key rotational players, three of whom were presumptive starters. Kofi Cockburn will miss the first three games of the season due to a suspension. Trent Fraizer, Andre Curbelo, and Austin Hutcherson all missed the Jackson State game due to injury.
Despite the missing pieces, the Illini came away with the win, 71-47. Now let’s jump into some details about the game and give some grades
Here are the grades from the Illinois basketball win over Jackson State.
Offense Grade: B-
With Illinois being without their best two ball handlers in Curbelo and Fraizer, they turned to Coleman Hawkins and Da’Monte Williams to share point guard duties.
That’s not what I expected to see when I turned the game on, that’s for sure. It was tough for the Illini to get anything going off the dribble in the first half. They went on a five-minute dry spell without a field goal during this time.
The offense in the second half was a lot better led by Jacob Grandison, who finished with a game-high 20 points while adding five rebounds and going 2-of-4 from behind the arc.
Hawkins finished with 13 points, eight rebounds, and three assists. The Illini shot 43% from three-point range as a team as well. It is looking like that will be a strength for Illinois this season.
Defensive Grade: A
The Illini defense set the tone from the start of the game. They forced Jackson State into 13 turnovers in the first half and 20 turnovers for the game. That is what really fueled a struggling Illini offense in the first half.
The defense was led by newcomer Omar Payne, who started in place of Kofi. Payne had a team-high three blocks. Hawkins not only ran the show for the offense, but he also chipped in on the defensive side of the court with four steals. Williams and Alfonso Plummer added three steals as well.
Overall:
Illinois did what they were supposed to do and handled the weaker opponent, even while being shorthanded. It was awesome to see Hawkins blossom to his full potential. The way he handled the ball as a big man was not something you see every day.
It was also awesome to see the freshmen chip in as well. Luke Goode led the freshmen in scoring with six points after he knocked down two three-pointers.
The Illini hope to improve to 2-0 as they take on Arkansas State Friday night at 8 p.m. CT on BTN+.