Illinois Basketball: Grades from the Illini win over Northwestern

The Illinois Basketball team traveled to Evanston for an in-state battle against the Northwestern Wildcats.

The Illini were once again shorthanded, missing point guard Andre Curbelo. But there was some great news. Kofi Cockburn returned from concussion protocol after a two-game absence and led Illinois to a 59-56 victory over the Wildcats.

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

Offense: C+

Illinois’ offense, by no surprise, was led by Kofi who had 22 points and nine rebounds. Northwestern really struggled to contain him, which most teams do. The big man did have four turnovers, so the Wildcats did disrupt him a bit.

Outside of Kofi, the offense really struggled most of the game. Trent Fraizer had an off-shooting game going 2-of-10 from the field for only six points. Frazier still played a big role in the game, though. He was great defensively and played all 40 minutes of action.

Alfonso Plummer struggled with foul trouble in this one, so he couldn’t get in a rhythm from the field. He only got up six shot attempts and scored nine points. Credit Northwestern’s defense for slowing him down.

Da’Monte Williams only had one shot attempt in this one, but it was in a huge moment in the game. With just under two minutes to go and the score tied, Williams came flying in with a huge dunk off a Kofi miss to give the Illini a 55-53 lead.

Defense: A-

The defense for the Illini was very solid in this one, once again, led by Fraizer and Williams. It is completely ridiculous that Fraizer’s name wasn’t on the Naismith Defensive Player Of The Year watch list.

Fraizer completely shut down Northwestern’s Boo Buie on Saturday. He held him to 3-of-11 from the field for only nine points, three of which came at the buzzer when the game was out of reach. According to Derek Piper of 247Sports, Boo Buie had scored double-digit points in 17 of his last 18 games. Fraizer is the best defensive guard in the country.

The Illini defense also had some great possessions from freshmen guards Brandin Podziemski and RJ Melendez. They were both in the game late giving good minutes over a struggling Jacob Grandison and Plummer. Omar Payne also gave us a solid three blocks in eight minutes off the bench.

Overall: B

This was, once again, not a very pretty game on the offensive end. Illinois scored under 60 points in back-to-back games. But the Illini have found a way to still get the win, which is what matters the most. It has been great to see the freshmen step up in the last two games.

Luke Goode was great, playing 18 minutes and scoring nine points, against Michigan State. Melendez and Podziemski were very solid against Northwestern, playing 18 and six minutes, respectively.

The Illini face a tough challenge on Wednesday night as they welcome the Wisconsin Badgers to the State Farm Center. This is a battle for first place in the Big Ten. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. CT on the Big Ten Network.