Illinois Basketball: Grades from the Illini loss to Arizona
The Illinois basketball team welcomed the No. 11 ranked Arizona Wildcats to the State Farm Center on Saturday.
It was a battle, especially being without Andre Curbelo once again, but unfortunately, the Illini came up short losing to Arizona, 83-79. Illinois is now 7-3 on the season and still 2-0 in Big Ten play.
Here are the grades from the Illinois basketball loss against Arizona
Offensive Grade: B-
The offense kept the Illini in the game for the most part. Illinois hit a season-high 16 three-point shots led by Trent Fraizer who went completely bananas in the first half propelling Illinois on a 19-0 run to take the lead.
Fraizer played a team-high 38 minutes and finished with 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and hit 6-of-11 three-pointers.
Alfonso Plummer, who I believe is the best shooter in the country, also hit six three-point shots and went 8-of-16 from the field. He did have a team-high five turnovers on the night. The Illini had 16 turnovers as a team, as it continues to be a major concern.
Kofi Cockburn had his 33rd career double-double finishing with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Kofi wasn’t his normal efficient self, however, going 5-of-15 from the field. Arizona sent multiple defenders at him all game, forcing him into tough shots. Jacob Grandison was the only other Illini player to score in the game finishing with 14 points off the bench.
Defensive Grade: B-
The Illini defense battled all night against a very solid offensive team in Arizona. Illinois forced 14 turnovers and had some key stops, especially during that 19-0 run they had in the first half of the game.
Unfortunately, for the Illini, when the offense got cold down the stretch of the game they struggled to get stops. Kerr Kriisa had some clutch buckets in the waning moments, and he finished with 19 points.
The Illini also struggled to contain Bennedict Mathurin, who hung a 30 piece on them. Illinois actually lost the defensive rebounding battle 27-25, as that is not normally the case when you have a guy like Kofi.
Overall Grade: B-
The Illini played a pretty solid game against a very good Arizona Wildcats team. If they catch a few more breaks, who knows, maybe they find a way to pull off the upset.
In a big game like this, you needed someone other than those four guys to step up and hit some shots. Coleman Hawkins only ended up playing 12 minutes after he had some early turnovers, and Da’Monte Williams gave you some hustle and intensity like he always does, but he was 0-of-3 from the field.
The Illini have three more winnable non-conference games to finish out the month of December. One against St. Francis (PA) on the 18th, the rivalry game against Missouri on the 22nd (can we please finally win this game), and they finish the month against the Florida A&M Rattlers on the 29th.