Illini Come Out Of Iowa With 87-83 Victory

"I'm obviously pleased with the outcome of tonight's game," head coach Brad Underwood said. "This is an Iowa team that as I watched film, they're going to be in there. They're going to be contending for a league title. To come into their building and get a road win ,we all know road wins in this league are extremely challenging, very, very difficult, very hard to get. But it was not pretty. I'm ecstatic because I think we did a couple of the things that you have to do to win on the road and that's rebound and and execute late and that includes free throw shooting. Obviously our turnovers, the press bothered us and I got to do a better job with that."

Alfonso Plummer and Jacob Grandison continued on their offensive tears each adding 21 points and four three-pointers against Iowa. This marks the fifth game in a row Plummer has scored 21 points or more. Trent Frazier and Kofi Cockburn were also instrumental on offense, scoring 18 and 17 points, respectively.

Cockburn added a career-high 18 rebounds, recording his 32nd career double-double. Illinois won the rebounding battle by a +29 margin and its 19 offensive rebounds led to 24 second chance points. 

Illinois took an early lead as Plummer started the game off on a hot streak. After Frazier scored to start the game, Plummer hit two three-pointers in between a pair of Iowa jumpers and a Kofi Cockburn put back.

The Illini continued to grab offensive boards which led to a layup from Grandison and another Plummer three. Seven minutes into the half, Illinois took its largest lead after Plummer drove to the lan and finished, making it 20-10.

That lead was short-lived as Iowa's offense broke out. The Hawkeyes made a couple layups and a three while the Illini suffered a 4-minute scoring drought which was eventually ended by a baseline layup from Coleman Hawkins.

Iowa's Tony Perkins came off the bench and began to dominate the Illini defense. Perkins made an and-1 then two consecutive jumpers to give the Hawkeyes a two-point lead amid multiple Illini turnovers.

Illinois continued to struggle, making just one of its last 10 field goals attempts as Iowa went on a 21-2 run over seven minutes.

Frazier got the Illini back on track with a three before Grandison hit back-to-back deep shots. Hawkins got involved down low, making a layup off an offensive rebound then sinking a pair of free throws to tie the game back up. Frazier had consecutive steals on the defense end, forcing Iowa into a three-minute scoring drought.

To end the half, Hawkins made a skip pass to Grandison, who drilled another three. The Illini ended the halftime on a 7-0 run and regained a 39-36 lead.
Hawkins was efficient off the ball in the first half, dishing out five assist while holding the nation's leading scorer, Keegan Murray, to two points. While nine turnovers plagued the Illini offense, three three-pointers from Grandison and Plummer kept them alive.

"I'm really happy we withstood stood, I think it was a 17-0 run," Underwood said. "We just got out of character and we didn't do a very good job the first half getting the ball to Kofi. They deserve a lot of that credit, but made a few adjustments the second half. Our spacing was much better and our emphasis was getting the ball to him. We can't have halves where he has one field goal attempt. But Plummer was great again, Jacob Grandison's been elite. Trent Frazier we can ever take out of a game and then I thought Coleman Hawkins was was outstanding, got into foul trouble but I thought early did a great job on Murray."
Iowa went up quickly in the second half as Murray made two and-1s but missed both free throw attempts. After scoring just three points in the first half, Cockburn went on a 6-0 run, putting Illinois up 45-40.

The teams traded shots as Iowa made a couple layups, Grandison hit his fourth three and Cockburn put in a layup. Cockburn continued to work in the paint and secured a double-double with another layup assisted by Frazier.

Illinois' defense held Iowa scoreless for four minutes while the offense put up 10 unanswered points. Frazier was good for seven of those, hitting a jumper, a three and a pair of free throws. Da'Monte Williams extended Illinois' largest lead of the night with an and-1, putting his team up 62-47.

"I think (defense) has always been our identity," Underwood said. "As much as we talked about our offense and scoring and executing, we've always been better on the defensive end, and we're getting there, we're getting better there. And that's evident as we started the game. But I thought the one thing for the most part, other than the pick sixes, we did a pretty good job of keeping Iowa out of transition and limiting them to one look. But we got work to do still defensively, we're still getting there."

The Hawkeyes brought back the full court pressure that led to their run in the first half and shook the Illini a bit. Illinois had back-to-back 10-second violation as Iowa got back within six points.

After Illinois' offense settled back in, Cockburn got back to work, hitting two more free throws and a short floater. Iowa and Frazier traded some free throws then Plummer scored his first points of the half with a baseline drive.

Murray refused to give up and scored eight straight points with just a few minutes left. With Illinois' lead down to 72-69 with about two minutes left, Underwood called a timeout. Grandison knocked down a short baseline jumper out of the break, putting Illinois back up by five. 

Another pair of free throws came from Murray, but Plummer quickly came alive to put the game away with a three-pointer and free throws, continuing his perfect percentage from the free throw line this season. While Iowa kept fighting back in the last minute, Plummer and Grandison finished the job at the charity stripe. 

Illinois will head back home for a nonconference matchup against No. 11 Arizona on Saturday. 

POSTGAME NOTES 

Illinois won its Big Ten road opener for the first time in 11 years, since posting an 87-77 win at Iowa on Dec. 29, 2010.

Illinois is off to a 2-0 start in Big Ten play for the first time since the 2013-14 season (home wins over Indiana and Penn State).

Illinois has now won four straight Big Ten road games, and nine of its last 10.

Illinois snapped a two-game skid in Iowa City, winning at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the first time since Feb. 18, 2017

Illinois was +29 on the glass (52-23), outrebounding its eighth opponent in nine games. Illinois entered the night ranked eighth in the NCAA in rebound margin, and is now at +14.2 rpg on the season.

Illinois grabbed 19 offensive rebounds and converted those into 24 points. The Illini were +13 in second-chance points (24-11).

Illinois made 11 three-pointers, its third straight game with at least 11 triples, and fourth in the last five games.

Illinois is now shooting 41.9% from 3-point land over the last five games while making an average of 10.8 threes (54-129).

Kofi Cockburn recorded his second-straight double-double and fourth in six games this season, finishing with 17 points and career-high 18 rebounds. 

Cockburn had 18 rebounds in 30 minutes, while the Iowa team had 23 rebounds.

Cockburn had the most rebounds by an Illini since Mike Davis also grabbed 18 boards in double overtime vs. Ohio State in the 2010 Big Ten Tournament.

It was the most rebounds by an Illini in a regulation game since Shelly Clark tallied 19 boards vs. Northwestern on March 8, 1995.

Cockburn now has 32 career double-doubles, tied for most in the NCAA among active players since 2019-20.

Alfonso Plummer had a game-high 21 points. It marked his fifth-straight game scoring 20+ points, the longest streak of his career. 

Plummer is now averaging 23.4 points over the last five games.

The Big Ten leader in 3-point field goals, Plummer drained four triples on the night. He is averaging 4.6 threes over the last five games.

Plummer also went 5-for-5 at the foul line to remain perfect on the season (28-28).

Jacob Grandison equaled Plummer with a game-high 21 points. It marked Grandison's most points as an Illini. His previous high was 16 set in Friday's win over Rutgers.

Grandison made four 3-pointers, his most with the Illini. Hs is now shooting 52.6% on threes over the last four games (10-19).

Grandison is averaging 18.5 points through two Big Ten games

Trent Frazier had a career-high 8 rebounds.

Coleman Hawkins set a career high with 5 assists.

Da'Monte Williams led the Illini with 6 assists and is now averaging 6.0 apg over the last four games.