Arizona Edges Illinois; SIUE Wins Third Straight

"We had a chance and we just didn't execute. But there's a lot of things to grow on," head coach Brad Underwood said. "I think our guys understand now what big boy basketball truly is, because they're really good. We can go back because it's early December, we're still 2-0 in league, and we can figure out what we've got to continue to work on to get better. We're going to be a really good basketball team, but we've got to get better defensively. Our transition defense was horrific. You add transition, points in the paint and our ability to not get a stop late, those are things we've got to get dialed in on."

Bennedict Mathurin, Arizona's top scorer, put up 30 points with five threes while Kriisa Kerr added 19. The Wildcats narrowly won the rebounding battle, putting up over half of their points in the paint.

Trent Frazier had a season-high 27 points and Alfonso Plummer had 25, with each of the guarding hitting six three-pointers. Only two other Illini scored on

Saturday night as Jacob Grandison and Kofi Cockburn put up 14 and 13 points, respectively. While Cockburn notched another double-double, he shot just 33% from the field as the Wildcats routinely double-teamed him with their plethora of size.

"We've got to do a better job of helping Kofi get it in positions that he can score. He doesn't see a lot of that type of length and athleticism," Underwood said.

"I mean they went three or four times in a row where they just blocked him. We've got to help Kofi. Kofi's had a little bit of a bone bruise on hia knee. We've got help get him back in better shape, but he's playing a lot of minutes and he's playing physical."

Illinois brought Arizona its biggest challenge yet, as the Wildcats allowed the most points this season. They previously held opponents to just 59.5 points per game.

Arizona had a quick start to the game as Azuolas Tubelis made the first basket of the game and Bennedict Mathurin hit a couple threes. Plummer got the Illini on the board early with his own three-pointer, but a three minute scoring drought with three turnovers ensued.

A dunk from Kofi Cockburn ended the drought, but the Wildcats fired back with a dunk, giving them their biggest lead of the half at 12-5.

While Arizona had made three of their last three shots, Plummer and Jacob Grandison each made treys to close the gap. Plummer and Mathurin traded layups before Plummer made a sideline jumper and drew the foul. His free throw brought Illinois within three and marked his 11th point through just eight minutes.

But a couple Arizona shots later and the Wildcats regained a six-point lead. Then, Frazier put the Illini on his back and shook the entire State Farm Center.
In under two minutes, Frazier nailed a three, hit a short jumper, then drilled back-to-back threes, putting Illinois up five. With all of the momentum on Illinois' side, Cockburn continued the run with a layup and a block while Arizona hadn't scored in three minutes.

The Wildcats were held scoreless for another minute as Plummer drained another three and Frazier stole the ball, leading to an and-1 under the hoop. Frazier made his free throw and the Illini completed a 19-0 run with a 37-24 lead, their biggest of the half.

Mathurin ended the scoring drought with a steal and a three-point play. He followed that up with back-to-back jumpers and a pair of free throws from a technical foul. Arizona kept possession after the technical and dunked the ball, shrinking Illinois' lead to 37-34.

Frazier continued to punish the Wildcats, hitting a jumper then taking a charge. On the following possession, Plummer skipped the ball to Grandison who knocked dow a trey. Arizona scored four quick points before the half, but Illinois kept a 42-38 lead going into the break.

After struggling on offense early, Illinois flipped the script, shooting 45% from the field in the first half. The Wildcats were held to 38% shooting. Mathurin led scorers with 17 points, but Frazier added 16 of his own while Plummer had 14.

Mathurin opened the half with his fourth three-pointer of the game then a pair of Arizona free throws put Illinois behind one point. Frazier answered quickly with a trey and a pair of free throws to regain a four-point lead.

The team traded a pair of shots before the Wildcats took charge and went on a 12-0 run to take a 57-50 lead. While Arizona hit three deep balls and a layup, Illinois suffered a three-minute scoring drought, missing its last four shots.

Grandison ended the run with a corner three, but Arizona hit a jumper on the next trip down the floor. While Frazier added his fifth trey of the night, an Arizona layup kept the Wildcats ahead by five.

Then after having a quiet start to the half, Plummer came alive for eight straight points, putting Illinois up by three. Arizona's offense continued to challenge Illinois as Kriisa Kerr put up six consecutive points.

Cockburn added a quick five straight points before the Wildcats got back on a heater, with a 6-0 run. Plummer followed it up with his sixth three-pointer, butan Arizona layup kept the Wildcats up 75-72 with under four minutes to play.

A Grandison floater and a pair of free throws from Cockburn were matched by two Arizona layups with just over a minute to play.

The Illini brought it down to the wire, but they missed a couple late shots and had a crucial turnover while the Wildcats were solid from the free throw line.

"Around finals week we're going to grind. We've got to get better," Underwood said. "We've got to have 5-on-5 smash mouth, tough, consequence basketball.

That's the reality of it. There's gotta be consequences for turning the ball over, for not executing, not catching the ball in your spot. And we haven't done that."
Illinois has a week off before returning to State Farm Center to host Saint Francis next Saturday, Dec. 18 at 12 p.m. CT.

POSTGAME NOTES

Illinois saw its five-game winning streak snapped, and also its 10-game homecourt win streak ended.

Illinois made 16 three-pointers, one shy of the school-record 17 treys set in last season's opener vs. North Carolina A&T (Nov. 25, 2020).

Trent Frazier led the Illini with a season-high 27 points. It was his most points in a game since his sophomore season, when he scored 30 at Minnesota (Jan. 30, 2019).

Frazier made six 3-pointers for the second time this season (at Marquette, Nov. 15).

Alfonso Plummer had 25 points, extending his streak of 20+ point games to six straight.

Plummer is the first Illini with six consecutive 20-point games since Brian Cook during the 2002-03 season (Dec. 28, 2002-Jan. 15, 2003).

Plummer also drained six 3-pointers, his third game this season making at least six treys.

Kofi Cockburn tallied his third straight double-double and fifth in seven games this season, recording 13 points and game-high 13 rebounds.

Cockburn now has 33 career double-doubles, most in the nation among active players since 2019-20, and ranking sixth on the Illini career list.

SIU 60, Kansas City 56

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball improved to 3-0 at home Sunday, outlasting Kansas City 60-56 for its second consecutive win.

The Cougars moved to 5-6 overall. Kansas City dropped to 5-5.

"We're going to make mistakes; and it's all about how you react to that mistake and that possession," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "If you hang your head or if you're not willing to move on, you're going to struggle. We have guys who are able to make up for those mistakes. We're switchable, we're long, and we care. So, it was really cool to see our guys perform the way they did through those extra effort plays."

Like Wednesday's win over Purdue Fort Wayne, SIUE opened the game with a run and led nearly the rest of the way. SIUE scored the game's first six points and led until an Anderson Kopp three-pointer gave Kansas City a 19-18 lead with 3:31 to play in the first half. The Cougars responded with an 8-0 run to close the half and carried a 26-19 lead to halftime.

The Cougars extended the run to 10 with a Shamar Wright layup to start the second half and give SIUE its largest lead of the game at 28-19.

While SIUE never trailed in the second half, Kansas City kept the game close. The Roos got within two points (41-39) after a free throw with 10:22 to play and were within three points on several occasions.

SIUE led 57-56 when a DeeJuan Pruitt attempt missed, and the rebound was pushed out of bounds. SIUE called a timeout with 19 seconds to play. Shaun Doss, Jr. triggered in from the baseline to Shamar Wright streaking in from the foul line. Wright then finished with a reverse layup to give SIUE a 59-56 lead.

"It's not a hard play," Barone said. "It's throw it to a good player and let them score. And we have five of them on the court. Obviously, it's always fun, but it's really not that intricate of a play. But our guys executed that play. I don't think we've run that in a game this year. It's about getting your player the ball, it's that simple. I didn't do anything except call the timeout."

Doss sealed the win with a free throw with seven second to play for the final margin.

SIUE shot only 39 percent (19-49) from the field. The Cougars out rebounded Kansas Coty 39-33 and scored 13 second-chance points.
Pruitt recorded his first career double-double, tying his career high with 13 points and setting a new career best with 11 rebounds. He was one of four SIUE players to finish in double figures scoring. Ray'Sean Taylor scored 14 to lead SIUE. He has scored in double figures in all 11 games he had played in. Shamar Wright added 13 points for SIUE and Doss scored 11, marking the ninth time in games that he has been in double figures.
Evan Gilyard scored 19 points to lead Kansas City. Alick and Kopp each scored 14 points.

SIUE which came into the game leading the Ohio Valley Conference in field goal percent defense, held the Roos to just 35 percent (17-48) for the game.
"We knew coming in that Kansas City was a really tough team," Shamar Wright said after the game. "We had a really big focus on manning up against them and trying to match their physicality."

SIUE takes the next week off for final exams before returning to the First Community Arena court Sunday for a 1 p.m. contest with William Woods.