Notes, player grades: Illinois men’s basketball picks up win over Penn State despite sloppy play

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Sydney Laput

Graduate student guard Alfonso Plummer tries to drive through two Penn State defenders during the Illinois men’s basketball game on Thursday night at State Farm Center. Plummer had an unusual off night, while fifth-year senior Da’Monte Williams led the team in points and field-goal attempts.

By Josh Pietsch, Sports On-Air Editor

There wasn’t much to be pleased about on Thursday night for the Illini despite beating the Penn State Nittany Lions, 60-55, at State Farm Center.

Illinois didn’t shoot the ball efficiently and looked a little out of sorts all night, but one bright spot was fifth-year senior guard Da’Monte Williams. The super senior led the Illini with 14 points, which is the first time in his college career that he led his team in scoring.

Illinois struggled to contain Nittany Lion senior guard Jalen Pickett, Penn State’s 6-foot-4 big guard, who scored a game-high 18 points. Kofi Cockburn (11 points) and Trent Frazier (10 points) were the other two players in double figures for the Illini in their win.

Slop

It’s easy to tell by the score that Illinois didn’t play well on the offensive side of the ball, but it wasn’t much better defensively.

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Penn State outrebounded Illinois, 34-29, which should never happen with a guy like Kofi on the floor, and the Nittany Lions also won the offensive rebounding battle, 11-9. Had Penn State not shot so poorly on second-chance opportunities, the Illini would have been upset at home.

Illinois turned the ball over eight times, which isn’t bad, but one of them was a back-court violation without any pressure. That one had fans rolling their eyes. The miscues, combined with shooting just 36% from the field, kept the game much closer than it should have been.

Da’Monte night

Well, if it wasn’t for the least likely starter to lead Illinois in scoring, the home fans would have gone home very upset Thursday. Credit to Williams, who shot 4-10 from three to go along with three rebounds, three assists and two steals.

It’s good to see Da’Monte step up when almost the whole team was struggling, especially as a super senior. If he can heat up for the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, Illinois will have a better chance at advancing far in March.

Grades time.

Da’Monte Williams: A-

I’ll keep it brief since I don’t want to sound too repetitive, but Da’Monte had a very good game. His defense was good, and he was able to hit some big threes to either give Illinois the lead or keep them ahead.

He was only 4-11 total from the field, which isn’t at all great, but he still led the team in scoring. Nice game out of him.

Kofi Cockburn: C+

Kofi was an efficient 4-7 from the field to finish the game with 11 points, but the issue was how much he shot the ball. I know it’s not always his fault when he doesn’t get the ball down low, but he took only seven shots against an undersized Penn State team.

He also only grabbed six rebounds, which speaks to Illinois’ rebound troubles as a whole on the night and gave Penn State too many extra chances.

Especially against undersized teams, Kofi has to be scoring a lot. It’s concerning that in 34 minutes he could only total 11 points and six rebounds, but hopefully it was just an off night after a good game against Michigan. 

Trent Frazier: B

Trent was one of three Illini to reach double figures in scoring, doing so efficiently by shooting 2-5 from three. I don’t like that his shot selection was more limited, but the Nittany Lions’ game-planned well against him. 

Unfortunately, Trent showed once again that he really struggles to cover bigger guards. He was the primary defender on Pickett, who scored a game-high 18 points and was very efficient in doing so. He was able to back Trent down multiple times to get a good look inside. 

Trent still played well, but I’m just concerned that if head coach Brad Underwood continues to put Trent on bigger guards, he’ll continue to struggle despite being such a good defender. 

Jacob Grandison: B+

He only had eight points, but Grandison actually played a pretty good game. He shot the ball well when given the opportunity, and he filled up the stat sheet with five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block.

He played decent defense, too, on some of Penn State’s secondary scorers. But, like the rest of the team, it wasn’t Grandison’s best rebounding night as far as boxing out.

I still like what I saw from Grandison, though, who needs to get hot and stay hot for the upcoming tournaments.

Alfonso Plummer: D+

I’ll start with the good by saying that Plummer did have six rebounds, tied for a team high, after Brad had criticized the guards previously for not rebounding well enough. 

But, after two great shooting performances in a row, he was not on from three, shooting just 1-4 on the night and finishing with five points. He also had one assist and a turnover. 

When he’s not shooting well, as I’ll continue to say, it’s hard to play Plummer since he’s a defensive liability. He played 32 minutes, but he wasn’t very good on either side of the ball Thursday night. I liked the rebounding, though.

Coleman Hawkins: C-

Hawkins came up clutch late and made four big free throws to help put the game away, which is why his grade isn’t lower. However, it wasn’t a night to remember for Coleman.

He was 1-6 from the field and 0-4 from behind the arc. I like his confidence, but Hawkins is not the type of guy to shoot himself out of an in-game slump. He added two rebounds and an assist.

Considering he only played 12 minutes, his six shots were definitely too much, but I credit him for making free throws late.

Andre Curbelo: D

Curbelo had easily the best pass of the night, a backdoor alley-oop lob to Kofi Cockburn in the second half. But, he was 1-5 from the field on the night and had three turnovers with only two assists.

We keep seeing flashes of his old self, but Curbelo still hasn’t found a consistent groove to be productive. 

Omar Payne: N/A

Payne only played three minutes, so despite his two points and two rebounds (without fouling!!), it’s hard to give him a grade. 

But, I needed to comment on his spin move that led to a layup, because it showed a flash of what he can do offensively. That was really nice to see.

Final note

There was nothing pretty about this win. Illinois came out flat, and after all Brad’s talk about discussing the Final Four with his team, I was disappointed to see the Illini look so sloppy and almost unmotivated.

Get it together soon, because a performance like this would earn you a loss in any round of the NCAA tournament.

 

@JPietsch14

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