Illinois Basketball: 4 observations from the Illini win over Iowa

Illinois basketball pulled off a big road win over Iowa on Monday night.

After a big win against Rutgers, the Illini needed to continue building on that momentum. Illinois managed to accomplish this goal by taking down a tough Iowa team on the road. Despite the Hawkeyes being at full health, the Illini played a great game and came out victorious, 87-83.

Here are four observations from the Illinois basketball win over Iowa.

1. Complete team effort

Despite Brad Underwood shortening his lineup, this was one of the most complete team efforts this season. Each player who played serious minutes contributed to different aspects of the game.

The leading scorer was Alfonso Plummer and Jacob Grandison. They each dropped 21 points, and their stat lines were very similar. Plummer was 6-of-11 from the field and 4-of-8 from three-point range, while Grandison finished the night 6-fo-14 from the field and 4-of-9 from three-point range.

The leading rebounder for the Illini was, obviously, Kofi Cockburn. His 17 points were impressive, but the 18 rebounds Kofi pulled down was a career-high for the big man. Kofi continues to show why he should be in consideration for being the best player in college basketball.

The Illinois leader in assists against Iowa was Da’Monte Williams. While he isn’t much of a scorer, Williams tries to do everything else on the court. His team-high six assists were huge in the victory over the Hawkeyes.

The leader for the Illini in steals was Trent Frazier. It was nice to see Frazier play well, but his defense is always going to give the Orange and Blue more chances to score on the offensive end of the court. Frazier is a huge asset to this team.

It seems like Illinois has won in many different ways this season. Against Iowa, this was a true team effort.