Illini Pound Minnesota In Big Ten Opener

By Matt Haufe

FightingIllini.com

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- In the Big Ten season opener, Kofi Cockburn scored a career-high 33 points and led the No. 13 Fighting Illini (5-2, 1-0 Big Ten) to a 92-65 victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Ayo Dosunmu tallied 10 points and 7 rebounds, and Adam Miller added 14 points. Andre Curbelo led the team with 9 assists.

The Gophers (6-1, 0-1 Big Ten) were led by redshirt-junior Marcus Carr (16 points) and junior Liam Robbins (10 points).

The Illini were down 16-8 early, but followed with a 32-13 run to finish the first half with the lead. After the break, the Illini continued to pour it on with Kofi Cockburn scoring 11 points in the first eight minutes of the second half to put the game out of reach for the Gophers.

HARD IN THE PAINT

The Illini outscored the Gophers in the paint 48-14. This included the Illini holding Minnesota to zero points in the paint for the first 18:59 of the game, and held the Gophers to just two points in the paint in the first half.

DOUBLE-DIGIT SCORING

Illinois again had 4+ players in double-digit scoring, marking the fifth occurrence this season. In games where the Illini have 4+ players in double-digits, the Illini are 5-0.

UP NEXT

The Illini travel to Piscataway, NJ on Sunday, Dec. 20 to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Tipoff is scheduled for 12 PM CT and will be broadcasted on ESPN2 and the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network.

POSTGAME NOTES

Illinois improves to 125-68 against Minnesota, including a 74-19 mark in Champaign.

Illinois moves to 68-48 all-time in Big Ten openers, including a 45-18 record when opening league play at home and 24-6 when in State Farm Center.

Illinois opened Big Ten play with a win for the first time since the 2013-14 season, when it defeated Indiana at home, 83-80 in overtime, on New Year's Eve. 

The Illini's 27-point margin of victory ties the largest against a Big Ten opponent since a 95-68 win over Minnesota on Jan. 16, 2019.

The last time Illinois led any Big Ten team by over 30 points was against Minnesota on Jan. 16, 2019. The Illini led Minnesota by 36 at the 10:10 mark of the second half.

Illinois shot 53.1 from the field, marking the fifth time this season the Illini have recorded a 50.0 field goal percentage from the floor.

Illinois outscored Minnesota 48-14 in points in the paint with the Gophers not scoring a point in the paint for the first 18:59 of the game.

The Illini outrebounded the Gophers 53-35.

Sophomore Kofi Cockburn poured in a career-high 33 points to go along with 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season and 16th of his career.

The Illini had back-to-back games with 30-point scorers for the first time since 2016 (12/6/16 - Malcolm Hill 32 vs IUPUI; 12/10/16 - Tracy Abrams 31 vs

Central Michigan) with Cockburn's 33 tonight combined with junior Ayo Dosunmu's 36 points at Missouri on Dec. 12.

Freshman Adam Miller turned in his fourth double-digit scoring effort with 14 points – including a 4-of-9 mark from behind the arc.

Dosunmu and senior Trent Frazier each reached double figures with 10 points, with Dosunmu adding seven rebounds and five assists.

Freshman Andre Curbelo handed out a career-high nine assists, the most for an Illini in a single game this year.Illinois outscored Minnesota 30-11 during the last 13:12 of the first half to enter halftime with a 40-29 lead. Included in that run was 14-straight points – with 10 coming from Cockburn – over a four-minute span midway through the first half.

Combined with its scoring run, Illinois turned up its defense as Minnesota made only 1 of 19 shots during a nearly 10-minute stretch in the first half (15:12-5:20).

Minnesota finished the first half 3 of its last 27 shots.