Illinois Pounds Saint Francis Pennsylvania, 106-48

Illinois shot a season-high 65.5% from the field against Saint Francis, while keeping them from shooting past 27%.

Alfonso Plummer led the deep ball attack, making 5-of-10 threes, finishing with 19 points. Kofi Cockburn led all scoring with 21 points and was near perfect, shooting 9-for-11 from the field. Jacob Grandison also had an impactful outing, putting up 18 points with four three-pointers to reach 1,000 career points.

While the Red Flash led the offensive boards, the Illini still won the rebounding battle as Cockburn had 11 boards to notch another double-double.

The Illini executed a dominant first half against the Red Flash led by a stellar 19-point performance from Plummer. While Saint Francis got the first score of the game with a three from its leading scorer, Ramiir Dixon-Conover, Cockburn quickly put up a layup off an offensive rebound.

Trent Frazier and Plummer traded treys with the Red Flash before Illinois went on its first run. After Plummer's first three of the day, Cockburn scored five straight points to put the Illini up 13-9. Ronell Giles Jr. ended his team's four-minute scoring drought with a layup, but the Illinois defense didn't give Saint Francis any room to come back.

The Red Flash went scoreless for another four minutes while the Illini continued to flow on offense. Da'Monte Williams set up Cockburn for a big dunk then

Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk sunk a turnaround jumper. Plummer hit another three-pointer before Saint Francis countered with a three.

Illinois then went on its biggest run of the half, scoring eight straight points in the paint highlighted by a reverse layup from Jacob Grandison and a fast break dunk from Cockburn. Plummer knocked down his third three of the day to put Illinois up 31-15.

Saint Francis continued to fight, grabbing 14 total offensive rebounds in the first half and scoring six second-chance points. But Grandison and Plummer kept extending the lead, each hitting threes to go up 41-24.

The Illini ended the half on a 6-0 run as Plummer made his fifth trey of the day, missing just two in the half, and Frazier knocked down three free throws.

Going into the break, Illinois held a 47-23 lead, shooting 69.6% from the field. Along with Plummer's hot hand, Cockburn added 13 early points as was perfect from the field.

Grandison made a big splash to start the second half, notching his 1,00th career point with a three-pointer. After a pair of Saint Francis free throws,

Grandison fired right back with another deep ball.

After his father — Frank Williams — was honored at halftime as part of the 2001 and 2002 Big Ten Champion teams, Da'Monte Williams stepped up big. Williams made a perfect over-the-top feed to Cockburn for a layup.

Following a jumper from the Red Flash, Williams hit his first three of the day then sunk a short jumper on the ensuing possession. On the other end, Williams grabbed a defensive rebound and fired it to Frazier for a three to put Illinois up 63-29.

The Illini offense continued to thrive as Cockburn grabbed an offensive rebound for a dunk. A third Cockburn slam quickly followed courtesy of a skip pass from Luke Goode to Bosmans-Verdonk, who bounced it into Cockburn's hands.

Threes started raining in Champaign as Goode, Grandison and Coleman Hawkins all hit consecutive deep balls to put Illinois up 76-34.

Illinois went on a 14-0 run, as Bosmans-Verdonk, RJ Melendez and Hawkins all scored. Brandon Lieb came in off the bench and made a layup and a dunk, tying his season-high of four points.

A trey from Goode at the end of the game tied the program record for most Illini threes in a game with 17. Then, Brandon Podziemski sunk the record-breaking three in the final seconds.

The Illini hit the road for the annual McBride Homes Braggin' Rights game against Mizzou on Wednesday night at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis.

POSTGAME NOTES

Illinois made 18 three-pointers, setting a school record and breaking the previous UI mark of 17 treys set in last season's opener vs. North Carolina A&T (Nov. 25, 2020).

It marked Illinois' fifth straight game making at least 11 three-pointers, and sixth time in the last seven games. 

Illinois is now shooting 44% from 3-point range (88-200) over the last seven games while making an average of 12.6 threes. 

Illinois shot 65.5% overall (38-58), its highest field goal percentage in a game since Jan. 6, 2011, when the Illini set the current school record with 70.5% accuracy vs. Northwestern.

Illinois held Saint Francis (Pa.) to just 26.2% shooting, the lowest field goal percentage by a UI opponent since Jan. 5, 2020, when Purdue made 25%.

Illinois tied its season high with 21 assists and commited a season-low 9 turnovers.

Kofi Cockburn tallied his fourth straight double-double and sixth in eight games this season, recording game highs of 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Cockburn now has 34 career double-doubles, most in the nation among active players since 2019-20, and ranking fifth on the Illini all-time list.

Cockburn is now at 21.4 ppg and 11.9 rpg, one of only two players in the NCAA this season averaging at least 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Jacob Grandison tallied his 1,000th career point on a 3-pointer to start the second half. Grandison totaled 737 points in two years at Holy Cross and has now scored 271 points in two seasons with the Illini, giving him 1,008 for his career.

Grandison is the third 1,000-point scorer on the current UI roster, joining Trent Frazier (1,536) and Kofi Cockburn (1,132). 

Grandison finished with 18 points, his fourth straight game scoring at least 14. He is now averaging 17.3 ppg over the last four games.

Alfonso Plummer scored 19 points, all coming in the first half. That ended his streak of consecutive 20-point games at six, tied for the fourth-longest streak by an Illini in the last 50 years.

Plummer remained perfect at the foul line, hitting two more today to improve to 33-of-33 on the season. His current run of 33 straight made free throws is now the second-longest streak in Illini history.