Illinois moves to 2-0 in Big Ten behind Kofi's 17 points and 18 rebounds.
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By Randy Reinhardt Bloomington Pantagraph
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa’s methods for keeping the basketball out of Kofi Cockburn’s hands worked splendidly the first half at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Monday.
When Illinois solved that conundrum, other creases in the Hawkeyes’ defense became easier to exploit.
After being limited to one first-half shot, Cockburn scored 10 points in the opening seven minutes after halftime. The Illinois guards soon joined the party to capture an 87-83 Big Ten Conference victory before a crowd of 12,072.
According to Underwood, Cockburn’s halftime demeanor spoke volumes.
“Kofi’s grown in a lot of ways, most of them mental,” Underwood said. “Halftime as a freshman he would have been frustrated, upset, ticked off. It would have affected other parts of his game. Now he’s saying ‘I’m open. Get me the ball, but don’t force it.’ There is a tremendous maturity with that.”
“I’m pretty ecstatic. It was not pretty, but we got a road win coming to their building,” Underwood said. “A couple things you have to do to win on the road is rebound and execute late. That includes free throwing shooting.”
The Illini recovered from the Hawkeyes’ 21-2 surge as Grandison tossed in back-to-back 3-pointers that brought Illinois within 33-32.
“We didn’t have an answer for those runs early (in the season),” Underwood said. “Now we do.”
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The last statement by BU says a lot to me .....the Illini have progressed and I look forward to Saturday's game with a lot more optimism than I had a week ago......
Go Illini ......................