Illinois Basketball: Grades from the Illini win over Nebraska

Illinois Basketball traveled to Pinnacle Bank Arena on Tuesday night to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers. 

It was a tough battle for the Illini. They came out a bit flat, and Nebraska was able to take a 34-31 lead into halftime. Illinois was able to pull out an 81-71 victory late, though. This was due to a 7-0 run in the final three minutes.

Here are the grades from the Illinois basketball win over Nebraska.

Offense Grade: A-

The Illini offense had a very solid performance. They shot 47% from the field as a team and 36% from the three-point arc.

Trent Fraizer had his best performance of the year, as he really controlled the game on both ends of the floor. Fraizer finished with a season-high 29 points and had five assists with only one turnover.

The number of turnovers has been my biggest concern for the Illini so far this season. They average 14.5 turnovers per game but only had nine turnovers against Nebraska. Frazier really ran the offense well on Tuesday night, and I can’t say that enough.

Kofi Cockburn was solid against the Cornhuskers as well, scoring 16 points and hauling in eight rebounds, five of which were offensive rebounds. Derrick Walker really battled with Kofi, which made things tough for the big man. He held Kofi to 8-of-18 shooting and got him in a bit of foul trouble. Kofi was also 0-of-5 from the free throw line, which was weird considering he came into the game shooting 69% from the charity stripe.

Defense Grade: A-

Illinois’ defense started a little rough on Tuesday, as Nebraska came out and punched the Illini in the mouth by hitting four three-pointers before the first media timeout. The Illini held Nebraska to only eight three-point shots after that time. The Cornhuskers would finish 6-of-12 from three-point range.

Bryce Mcgowens and Alonzo Verge Jr. were held to 11-of-28 shooting and six turnovers. Fraizer had four steals against Nebraska as well. But what was awesome to see was Omar Payne making an impact on the defensive end, especially in the final four minutes when he was in for Kofi. Payne had four blocks in ten minutes, and Illinois had eight blocks as a team.

Overall Grade: A-

The Illini played pretty well against a pesky Nebraska team. It was awesome to see Coleman Hawkins and Payne step up in limited minutes. They both had big plays in the game. This was the best we have seen from Payne this season. Hawkins had four points and eight rebounds in 13 minutes, but all four of his points came on offensive rebounds and hustling.

Illinois improved to 12-3 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since the 2005 National Championship runner-up team. The Illini’s next scheduled game is Friday at home against Michigan. That game is in jeopardy because Michigan’s last two games have been postponed due to COVID-19.