Illinois 76, Minnesota 53 Postgame
Seriously, I do not believe there is a single Damonte HATER in the Illini fan base. We all have our favorites and we all realize that he is a very important player on this roster. Some even understand what he can and cannot do, the latter of which is not much.
sacraig
- The desert
I don't dislike Damonte, but his line usually looks like that without the points so far this year. It's not really fair to say this is ho hum for him. I hope it becomes that.
pruman91
- Paducah, Ky
Cockburn helps Illini dominate Gophers
Big man has 29 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high four blocks in 76-53 victory.
MINNEAPOLIS — Kofi Cockburn had 29 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high four blocks for his eighth double-double of the season and Illinois dominated Minnesota 76-53 on Tuesday night for its fourth straight win in the series.
Cockburn scored five points in a 9-0 run to open the second half to help build a 50-30 lead, and Illinois led by at least 18 points the rest of the way.
Cockburn, who entered ranked fourth in the nation in scoring at 21.8 points per game and third with 12.1 rebounds, was 10 of 19 from the field despite being double-teamed down low.
Jacob Grandison added 11 points and Alfonso Plummer, who entered averaging 22.9 points over the last eight games, scored 10 for Illinois (10-3), which has its first 3-0 Big Ten start since the 2010-11 season. The Illini dominated the paint, outscoring Minnesota 42-18 with a 52-26 edge in rebounding.
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I predicted 70-64 Illini winning..............................After watching the dismantling of misery and now the goofers , I am now totally bought in on the power and numerous ways that we can beat any opponent that we line up against..........I am not impressed with the Rocket Mort-gag-ers at all and the bucknuts and purdont's seem to not be as powerful as believed.......
I truly think the B1G championship is ripe for the Illini to seize control and win it barring any covid issues as last year.......Looks like Mr. Coward and scUMmers will be hanging around with the nebby's and mildcats , so go ahead and pause all you want Mr. Coward....
On to the twerps and going 4-0 in the B1G........................
Go Illini.........................
We look insanely good at the moment. All without Curbelo I might add. Speaking of which, I sincerely hope Curbelo makes a full recovery and is 100% healthy. No clue what's gonna be his status moving forward. I just wish him all the best. GO ILLINI!
texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
Ranking update:
Kenpom - #11
NET - #12 (Big thanks to Marquette for dismantling Providence last night, moving them back into quad 1)
Here's Illinois' team sheet on NCAA.org that breaks down all games, past and future, by quadrant
Kenpom - #11
NET - #12 (Big thanks to Marquette for dismantling Providence last night, moving them back into quad 1)
Here's Illinois' team sheet on NCAA.org that breaks down all games, past and future, by quadrant
Just a great voice of reason. Thanks for being around here for 13 years. Go Illini
Always like to hear what other coaches have to say after losses. Interesting…. They were more worried about Plummer going off, opened it up for Kofi!
www.startribune.com
Gophers men's basketball overwhelmed by Illinois in 76-53 loss
The Gophers were outscored 42-18 in the paint in a game that was one-sided from the start.
www.startribune.com
sacraig
- The desert
That Marquette win bumped us up 2 spots in KenPom.
texillwek
🔶🔹🔸🔷
Now if Cincy could get their act together and string together some wins...
Great at the 3, but terrible in the lane driving to the basket. 0-5.Ten foot fadeaways were all short.
Hawk doesn't necessarily get bumped off. He appears to be concerned with getting charging fouls. When a player is his height, refs tend to call charges on those attacking the hoop from the perimeter.
That was a good win last night. The team played well. I also think its clear that we are better with Jacob on the floor. Coleman has a lot of potential, is improving but still needs to improve with his focus to have the type of impact he is certainly capable of. It would be great to see Hawk at the 4and Jake at the 3. Hawk needs to just focus to over take DW and slide Jake over to that slot. I am very excited to see that happen along with Curbelo getting back in the line up to see us also improve as a team. Let's win this thing!
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altgeld88
- Arlington, Virginia
The budget for visitor locker room improvements keeps getting diverted to insurance premiums for that raised floor.At least it's carpeted. I thought something similar when I saw that photo: that's not much more posh than the rec center locker room we used for games in sixth grade in the late '70s. And I love that 1940s overhead ventilation duct.
It's a step above the Illini forcing opposing teams to dress in the old Beef Barn across St. Mary's Road and walk over to the Hall. Which, come to think of it.... Nah. That barn's gone.
Great win last night. Never easy to win on the road in conference, let alone coming off of a covid pause.
Biggest pluses for me were
1. Kofi’ ft shooting (9-11). If he stays at or above 70% for the year he, and by extension or offense, becomes that much harder to stop.
2. DaMonte going 3-4 from 3. Early in the year DaMonte was playing out of position, was forced to take some shots he normally wouldn’t, and wasn’t getting the looks he got last year with Ayo or Belo on the floor. As a result I think he lost a little confidence in his shot. But if he can consistently go something like 2-5 from 3 that’s one less guy that can cheat and help Kofi.
3. And I think this is most important, Coleman and Omar excelling in their roles. I think both brought great energy and were active defensively and on the glass. If we get 6 and 6 from Coleman and 10 positive minutes from Omar every we will be really tough to beat.
If we can get past our covid pause with no collateral damage we’ve got a great shot to win the BIG. Team is really rounding into form and if we get Belo back I still contend our ceiling is as high as anyone in the country.
Biggest pluses for me were
1. Kofi’ ft shooting (9-11). If he stays at or above 70% for the year he, and by extension or offense, becomes that much harder to stop.
2. DaMonte going 3-4 from 3. Early in the year DaMonte was playing out of position, was forced to take some shots he normally wouldn’t, and wasn’t getting the looks he got last year with Ayo or Belo on the floor. As a result I think he lost a little confidence in his shot. But if he can consistently go something like 2-5 from 3 that’s one less guy that can cheat and help Kofi.
3. And I think this is most important, Coleman and Omar excelling in their roles. I think both brought great energy and were active defensively and on the glass. If we get 6 and 6 from Coleman and 10 positive minutes from Omar every we will be really tough to beat.
If we can get past our covid pause with no collateral damage we’ve got a great shot to win the BIG. Team is really rounding into form and if we get Belo back I still contend our ceiling is as high as anyone in the country.
I dont think these voters follow every team like we do our Illini. We lost two games we shouldn't have. They dont care that a number of players were out. In fairness to them there are a lot of D I teams out there. Even now we are without AC but if they keep winning they will not only be top 25 but top 10 or better. When I look at our schedule I dont see many games where will won't be favored. Do you? Possibly at MSU and at Purdue but thats about it. With how Scum is playing and not playing at Wisconsin or at OSU we have s favorable schedule at least as far as the B10 goes.
Looking at the box score it’s scary to think we could have played better. Plummer and Trent had average games, even Grandi didn’t have a great game by his standards. We were pretty cold from 3 in the second half/didn’t shoot many in the second half.
We really are a very well rounded basketball team right now.
We really are a very well rounded basketball team right now.
USAFILLINI
- Florida
That felt good.
I've asked before, but curious if any of the insiders or anyone else has some insight. Do we know why RJ isnt seeing hardly any playing time? Injury slowing him, his defense, grades, effort in practice?
I've asked before, but curious if any of the insiders or anyone else has some insight. Do we know why RJ isnt seeing hardly any playing time? Injury slowing him, his defense, grades, effort in practice?
I think the best part of AC (hopefully) coming back soon is we can ease him back into the rotation at his own pace. It’s not like we desperately need him at this juncture, so it works to have him come off the bench and hopefully provide a spark as the 6th man, similar to last year. He could be a huge addition adding a different look off the bench in the PnR. Plus we’ve lacked depth in the backcourt at times this season, especially on the defensive end (thinking we really could have used him on that end of the floor against Arizona). I think the most encouraging thing is this team is playing top-15 caliber basketball without someone who’s expected to be a major contributor. Adding another piece to the puzzle, even just off the bench to start, is just more fuel to our fire.