Illinois Basketball: 5 observations from the Illini win vs Northwestern

2. Kofi Cockburn is incredible

It isn’t some mystery what the Illinois basketball team is going to do every game. We might be one of the easiest teams in the country to gameplan for.

But I think this is why what Kofi Cockburn is doing is even more impressive than his numbers show. Teams know that Illinois is going to dump the ball into Kofi. They can practice what they are going to do when he gets the ball. Even with the other team focusing on Kofi, he is still able to put up big numbers.

Against Northwestern, Kofi was able to finish with 19 points, 15 rebounds, one assist, and one steal. He was 8-of-11 from the field and made three of his six free throws. The Wildcats were literally double and triple-teaming Kofi the entire game, but he was still able to muscle his way to the rim.

That is now Kofi’s 13th double-double this season, which is insane. He is averaging 21.5 points and 11.4 rebounds per game for the year, and that is a boost from last season despite only getting 2.6 more minutes per game.

A scary part about Kofi’s game is the fact he can get better. He is one of the most dominant players I have seen in college basketball and the most dominant player in Illinois history, but there is still a ton of room to improve.

Let’s enjoy Kofi’s presence while we still have him. He is most likely gone after this season. We are on the home stretch of his time with the Illini. One day, we will see his jersey in the rafters right next to Ayo Dosunmu.