Kofi Cockburn is looking like himself, Alfonso Plummer found himself, and Illinois finally captured a high-major victory.
Following up a solid opening performance in a loss to Cincinnati last night, Illinois’ big man was once again unstoppable, accounting for almost half the Illini points in the first half on a perfect 5-5 from the field. His teammates, once again, struggled to support the All-American; Trent Frazier, Da’Monte Williams, Andre Curbelo and Jacob Grandison combined for just 5 points in the first half. Without Alfonso Plummer’s first burner of the year (3-4 from 3 in the first half) Illinois would have found themselves trailing to an inferior opponent for the third consecutive game.