PLAYER GRADES: vs. Purude
Alec Busse • OrangeandBlueNews
Staff
Illinois fell to No. 4 Purdue 96-88 in double overtime on Monday at State Farm Center suffering their first loss of the Big Ten season.
Despite Andre Curbelo returning to the lineup for the first time since late November and scoring 20 points, Illinois wasn’t able to overcome the struggles of junior big man Kofi Cockburn.
Orange and Blue News’ Alec Busse grades each player’s performance from Monday’s game.
Trent Frazier: B
Fifth-year senior Trent Frazier didn’t have the flair for the dramatic in the biggest moments of Monday’s games as he had in many of the Illini’s previous games this season. But Frazier was still able to finish with 16 points, five rebounds and a team-high six assists while playing in 48 of the 50 minutes. Purdue did a good job of making it difficult for Frazier to get open looks on the perimeter, which contributed to his 2-of-9 shooting from three-point land on Monday.Brad Underwood felt coming into the game that Purdue’s offense really thrives in the half-court when the Boilermaker’s fifth-year senior Sasha Stefanovic is rolling. Entering Monday’s game, Stefanovic was shooting better than 40 percent from three-point land and he buried 5-of-8 from deep, including three big ones in the second half and overtime. But Frazier isn’t responsible for all of those, and in fact, he really limited Stefanovic and he key in defending him late in regulation on Purdue’s final attempt before overtime.
Purdue’s Matt Painter praised Frazier’s defense after the game and said that Frazier knows so much defensively and really praised him for the way he played on that end. That says a lot because Frazier also stepped over and guarded likely top-10 draft pick, Jaden Ivey, when Da’Monte Williams was on the bench.
It’s fair to wonder what a couple more buckets from Frazier might have done for Illinois, but Frazier has carried Illinois to victories multiple times this season.
Alfonso Plummer: B
After continuing to struggle shooting the basketball in the first half and passing up open looks from the perimeter in the first half, Alfonso Plummer started to see his three-point shot fall again in the second half. Plummer came into Monday’s game making just 4-of-21 from three over the last four games, and after the first half, he had made just 4-24. But Plummer made 4-of-6 from three-point land in the second half and overtime, which helped him finish with a team-high 24 points, which included a game-tying layup with nine seconds left in the game at the end of the first overtime.But despite Plummer getting hot from three-point land in the second half and overtime, his defense really lacked in the second half against Purdue’s second and third guards Isaiah Thompson and Eric Hunter Jr. Plummer was guilty of giving up a costly back cut with just over a minute left in the second overtime period to Hunter, which put the Boilermakers up 89-83. While Plummer’s on-ball defense has started to improve over the last several games, he still gets caught ball watching or not being fully aware when he isn’t defending the ball. Purdue was able to expose that a couple of times because of how good of a passer Trevion Williams is.
Da’Monte Williams: B+
Defensively, Da’Monte Williams was asked to do a lot for Illinois on Monday because he was tasked with defending Jaden Ivey. Ivey, who Underwood said after the game as Russel Westbrook like athleticism, is quicker and longer than Williams is. But the Illini’s fifth-year senior was able to use his physicality to prevent Ivey from getting good looks in the half-court, and he erased one of Ivey’s fastbreak layup attempts by blocking his shot. Williams was also able to get a finger on an attempt by Trevion Williams midway through the first overtime period, which was huge for the Illini.With the Illini’s frontcourt hurt by foul trouble, Williams became one of the Illini’s best rebounders too. He and Andre Curbelo tied for a team-high six rebounds with all six of Williams’ boards coming on the defensive glass.
Offensively, Williams looked to be more comfortable and he didn’t force any shots or passes as he had in recent games. He finished with just three points, but he attempted just two shots. Still, he dished out four assists and had just one turnover on the day.
Jacob Grandison: B-
With Andre Curbelo returning to the lineup and playing really, really well Illinois was forced to play more without Jacob Grandison, especially in the second half. Grandison ended up playing 30 minutes and scored eight points on 3-for-10 shooting, which included three missed layups in the first half. Grandison did make 2-of-5 from three on Monday. Really, the three missed layups ended up hurting the Illini.Grandison was tasked with guarding Mason Gillis, Purdue’s four-man and he did a really good job. Gillis isn’t one of Purdue’s best options offensively because he’s not elite at creating a shot, but Grandison guarded effectively on the perimeter and made his looks difficult
How Illinois uses Grandison now that Curbelo appears to be back in the rotation is going to be really interesting to see play out. Does Grandison keep his starting spot? Or does Illinois opt to keep Curbelo on the bench to start games? Really how the dynamic plays out with the starters and bench players might not matter. Instead, what matters is who plays starters' minutes and sees their minutes shrink.
Kofi Cockburn: D
Kofi Cockburn was disappointing in the Illini’s first home loss of the season against Arizona, but he was much more disappointing in the Illini’s loss to Purdue on Monday. Arizona and Purdue are really the only two teams that the Illini have played that have a legitimate matchup for Cockburn in the paint. Arizona’s Christian Koloko was able to use his length to bother Cockburn and Purdue’s Zach Edey was able to use his massive 7-foot-4 frame to disrupt Cockburn offensively and Trevion Williams’ skill was able to get a couple of buckets over Cockburn too. Cockburn has shown a deeper bag of tricks this season in the paint, but he’s now struggled against teams that have quality bigs to match him in the paint – and that’s a concern because Illinois needs Cockburn to be better than his opponents in big games.Brad Underwood said after the game Cockburn likely wasn’t able to get into a flow because of the foul trouble that he got into. The two fouls that he was dinged for in the first half quickly turned into four before the start of the first media timeout of the second half, and that kept Cockburn on the bench until the under eight media timeout. Cockburn struggled when he was reinserted back into the game before eventually fouling out of the game less than a minute into the first overtime period.
Cockburn has largely been able to avoid foul trouble this season, but he was called for fouls against Nebraska and fouled out of Monday’s game vs. Purdue. Not letting that snowball into an ugly series of foul-prone basketball is key for Cockburn – and the Illini.
Omar Payne: B-
Omar Payne came off the bench for the Illini before the first media timeout and gave Illinois some really positive energy, which included his lone offensive rebound which led to a Trent Frazier three-pointer. After going to the bench for a few minutes and then returning after Cockburn got his second personal foul, Payne continued to give the Illini positive play – especially on the defensive side where he forced three straight misses by Trevion Williams.But it all quickly turned for Payne when he was issued a technical foul and a flagrant one after a brief altercation with Williams, which was capitalized on by the Boilermakers with a 17-2 run heading into halftime. Payne would later just play one minute in the second half and he didn’t play in either of the overtime periods.
Andre Curbelo: A
For the first time since late November, Andre Curbelo is included in the post-game player grades. The sophomore point guard made his much-anticipated return to the rotation on Monday, and he did it with a bang. The Puerto Rican finished with 20 points on 8-of-15 shooting from the field, 18 of those points came in the second half or overtime.There had been doubters about whether or not this Illinois team was better or worse without Andre Curbelo, but he silenced many of the critics in the second half, especially in his first stretch of minutes in the second half when he scored eight points to go along with one assist and one rebound. But Curbelo also kept it going later in the game with his ability to get to the rim and finish. He did miss a floater at the end of the third overtime that would have given the Illini the lead, but for Curbelo to come back from a nearly two-month break and play the way he did offensively was really impressive.
The plan was to play Curbelo for just 6-8 minutes, due to him only practicing twice before the game and not being in great physical shape. But he played 25 minutes and made sure to communicate when he needed a breather. Unfortunately for the Illini, the fatigue might have shown up on the defensive side a couple of times because he was guilty of leaving Stefanovic for a couple of open threes, which Purdue made him pay for.
Overall, for Curbelo to come back and contribute the way that he did is a major positive for the Illini. Now, it’s about getting him back into basketball shape and working him back into things in a way that is advantageous for the rest of the team. But if Monday was any indication, the Illini just got their best creator back and it came with a bang.
Luke Goode: B-
Luke Goode got a few minutes in the first half for the Illini and buried a top of the key three to make the score 14-10 in favor of Purdue. However, Goode did pass up an open look later in the half and eventually turned it over.Coleman Hawkins: C
Brad Underwood said after the game that Coleman Hawkins is battling the flu and that he was vomiting before the game, so that explains why he played just four minutes on Monday. In the four minutes that Hawkins received, he missed a three-point shot and was a minus eight in the plus-minus.
Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk: A
Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk didn’t make a very big impact in the stat book, but he played his butt off in the extended minutes of the second half and overtime periods despite being seriously overmatched by Zach Edey and Trevion Williams. Bosmans-Verdonk finished with four points on 1-for-3 shooting from the field and had just four rebounds in his 20 minutes. But he guarded both Edey and Williams really well, poked away a steal in the first overtime period. He also was able to get the Illini an extra possession after diving on the floor for a loose ball.Bosmans-Verdonk isn’t the most skilled Illini player, but when he’s on the court he always plays really hard. It showed against a Purdue team that has two of the best bigs in the Big Ten, but Bosmans-Verdonk was strong enough in the paint to not let the disadvantages he had shown. When Cockburn picked up his fourth foul, it looked like the game was all but done. But Bosmans-Verdonk didn’t allow that to be the case and he is a major reason the Illini were able to get the game to overtime on Monday.
