Illinois Basketball: Grades from the Illini win over Northwestern

Illinois Basketball welcomed Northwestern to the State Farm Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Illini started out on fire, scoring 44 points in the first half and taking a 14-point lead into halftime. It was a much sloppier second half for the Illini, but they were able to finish the Wildcats off, 73-66.

Here are some grades from the Illinois basketball win vs Northwestern.

Offense: C

Like I said above, the Illini offense in the first half was great. Trent Fraizer was playing perfectly as the table-setter, and his teammates were scoring at will.

Alfonso Plummer was 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from downtown for 16 points in the first half. The Illini, as a team, shot 9-of-16 from three-point range in the first half as well.

It was a tale of two halves for the second-straight game, though. The Illini were outplayed in the second half.

Illinois had 14 second-half turnovers as a team for 20 total. Kofi Cockburn had solid numbers finishing with 19 points and 15 rebounds, but he had a season-high six turnovers, as the double and triple teams really stifled the big man.

Da’Monte Williams and Jacob Grandison struggled shooting once again going a combined 2-of-16 from the field. This team’s ceiling in my opinion hinges on those two. When they’re knocking down shots, the offense is on a different level. Freshman RJ Melendez really stepped up in this one scoring a season-high 14 points and corralling a big offensive rebound late in the game.

Defense: B-

The defense had a decent game against Northwestern. Illinois was led by, no surprise, Trent Fraizer who held Boo Buie in check once again. Buie, who averages 15 points a game, was held to 3-of-13 shooting from the field for only eight points. In the two matchups against Illinois this season, Fraizer has held Buie to 17 total points and held him under 30% shooting in both of those games.

Where Northwestern was able to attack was Plummer on the defensive end. Ty Berry had a good game off the bench going 4-of-5 from three-point range, which was a result of Plummer being late to contest.

This is the second game in a row where Plummer has been picked on defensively. This could be a trend moving forward as teams try to keep him out of an offensive rhythm.

Overall: C+

This kind of feels like a gross win for the Illinois basketball team, but is a win nonetheless. The Illini take a one-game lead in the Big Ten standings over Purdue and Wisconsin after this win against Northwestern.

The most important takeaway from this one, in my opinion, is that Melendez must get consistent minutes. The freshman is always making big plays while he’s on the floor, and he looks calm, cool, and collected. Illinois needed his shooting and defense against the Wildcats as Grandison and Williams struggled.

Illinois travels to Jersey Mike’s arena, formally the RAC, to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights on Wednesday, February 16 at 6:00 p.m. CT. This is an awfully tough place to play as Rutgers is 11-1 at home this season. Illinois will have to play much better to beat Rutgers on the road Wednesday night.