On Tuesday, the Illinois basketball team returned to the court and beat the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 76-53.
After a two-week COVID hiatus, Brad Underwood and his team returned against Minnesota. Coming into this game, I was expecting the Illini to be a bit sluggish, but nope, Illinois came out swinging, gained the lead, and never looked back.
Multiple players for the Orange and Blue played well. But, of course, one player stood out from the rest of the team.
The MVP for the Illinois basketball team was Kofi Cockburn.
Other players played well, but the way Cockburn was able to dominate won him the MVP of this game.
Cockburn came out and made his impact felt the whole game as he put up a stat line of 29 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, two steals, and two assists. From start to finish, Cockburn was the best player on the court.
Minnesota could not guard Cockburn or contain him no matter what they tried. After this performance, Cockburn now has his 8th double-double of the season.
This game once again showcased Cockburn’s improvement as a player. He matched his career-high in assists and showed better timing on his shot-blocking. Plus, he has gotten better at performing post moves and taking advantage of smaller players.
After beating the Golden Gophers, the Illini improved to 10-3 overall and 3-0 in Big Ten play. The next game on the schedule was Thursday night against Maryland in which Illinois took down the Terrapins. The MVP from that game is coming soon.