CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Illinois All-America center Kofi Cockburn has declared for the NBA draft and hired an agent, marking the end of one of the most productive careers in program history.
Cockburn made the announcement on his social media channels Wednesday, and the Illinois athletic department confirmed it.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Once back in their locker room, Houston's players emptied their water bottles on coach Kelvin Sampson, who peeled off his shirt for the celebratory dousing.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — E.J. Liddell had the perfect out a year ago. The Ohio State star forward's reasons to move on were there for all to see on his social media feed.
Racist remarks. A death threat from what the school believes was a frustrated gambler.
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Duke began retiring Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski’s final NCAA Tournament with minimal stress, beating Cal State Fullerton 78-61 on Friday night.
Freshman Paolo Banchero scored 17 points to lead the Blue Devils (29-6), who jumped to a double-digit lead in the first 4 1/2 minutes and remained in control throughout.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The result didn't make sense to Brad Underwood. For the better part of 39 minutes Friday night, the Illinois coach watched his fourth-seeded team chasing 13th-seeded Chattanooga.
The Southern Conference champion Mocs, with alum and Pro Football Hall of Famer Terrell Owens cheering them on, smothered Illini All-America center Kofi Cockburn.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The smile is wide and bright, like everything else about Kofi Cockburn.
The Illinois center, a man mountain and one of the most dominant interior players in this year's NCAA Tournament, is almost always the one leading the laughter during practice and any other time his teammates need a lift.
Keegan Murray has given Iowa a first-team Associated Press All-American for the third straight year, and Kofi Cockburn has made it two in a row for Illinois — not bad for a couple programs that haven't had a whole lot of them.
Last season's NCAA Tournament ultimately unfolded in familiar fashion.
Upsets early — hi, Oral Roberts! — before the powerhouses eventually took over.
By the time the championship game rolled around, undefeated Gonzaga and twice-beaten Baylor — two No.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Trayce Jackson-Davis had something to prove at the Big Ten Tournament.
He wanted to show the critics he could excel against the conference's top big men and that Indiana deserved an NCAA Tournament bid.
Michigan coach Juwan Howard’s return and Wisconsin guard Johnny Davis’ injury are the major plotlines heading into the Big Ten Tournament that starts Wednesday in Indianapolis.
Howard is returning from a five-game suspension as the Wolverines attempt to play their way off the bubble and into the 68-team NCAA Tournament field.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — No. 20 Illinois locked up a share of the Big Ten regular-season title when Kofi Cockburn had 21 points and 14 rebounds to lead a 74-72 win over No. 24 Iowa Sunday night.
The Fighting Illini’s hopes for a conference crown were kept alive when Nebraska upset No.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Da’Monte Williams made four 3-pointers on his way to a season-high 14 points, helping No. 20 Illinois hold off Penn State 60-55 on Thursday night.
The victory kept the Illini (21-8, 14-5 Big Ten) in contention for a share of the conference title if they beat Iowa and Wisconsin loses to Nebraska on Sunday.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn dominated on the inside, as usual, and his teammates provided plenty of offense from the outside.
Cockburn scored 27 points and Alfonso Plummer had 26, helping No.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 27 points and Alfonso Plummer had 26, helping No. 15 Illinois beat Michigan 93-85 on Sunday.
Plummer had 23 points in the first half as the Fighting Illini led by eight.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Freshman Malaki Branham scored 31 points to lift No. 22 Ohio State to an 86-83 win over No. 15 Illinois on Thursday night.
The result dealt a serious blow to Illinois' Big Ten title hopes, dropping them a full game behind leaders Purdue and Wisconsin two weeks left in the regular season.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 27 points, Jacob Grandison had a season-high 24 and No. 12 Illinois held off No. 19 Michigan State 79-74 on Saturday.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Cliff Omoruyi had 15 points, 13 rebounds and a reverse alley-oop dunk in Rutgers’ game-breaking run as the Scarlet Knights beat No. 12 Illinois 70-59 Wednesday night for their fourth straight win over a ranked team.
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (AP) — Rutgers isn’t just beating ranked teams, they are dominating them with a relentless hard-nosed style of play.
No. 12 Illinois became the fourth straight ranked team to fall to the Scarlet Knights, getting beat 70-59 on Wednesday night.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to help No. 13 Illinois stave off a late comeback by Northwestern to beat the Wildcats 73-66 on Sunday.
Illinois led by 18 points after Alfonso Plummer’s 3-pointer with 13:05 left, but Northwestern responded with a 19-2 run to pull within one point with 6:16 to go.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Jaden Ivey and Eric Hunter Jr. provided the second-half muscle for No. 3 Purdue on Tuesday night.
They didn't even need much help from their big guys.
Hunter scored all nine of his points during a game-changing run to start the second half and Ivey scored 26 points, 22 coming after he got angry, to help the Boilermakers run away from No.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — No. 18 Illinois needed someone other than Kofi Cockburn to produce Saturday.
Trent Frazier delivered with a nearly flawless second half.
The senior guard made all three of his shots inside the arc, went 2 of 3 from 3-point range and hit both free throws to finish with 23 points while leading the Fighting Illini to a 74-57 victory at Indiana.
AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Jabari Smith bounced back from a rough shooting night with 23 points and 12 rebounds and Walker Kessler scored 21 to lead No. 1 Auburn to an 86-68 victory over Oklahoma on Saturday.
EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn returned from a concussion and scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead No. 24 Illinois to a 59-56 victory over Northwestern on Saturday.
Cockburn was effective, hitting 10 of 17 shots, but his teammates combined for a dismal 12-of-34 shooting clip, allowing the Wildcats to hang around despite going 20 of 56 from the field and 6 of 18 from 3-point range.
A look at the upcoming week around the Big Ten Conference:
GAME OF THE WEEKEND: No. 16 Ohio State at No. 6 Purdue, Sunday. This is the only regular-season meeting between teams in the thick of the conference race.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Trent Frazier scored a game-high 16 points, and No. 24 Illinois held on to beat No. 10 Michigan State 56-55 on Tuesday and take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Malik Hall scored 14 points and No. 14 Michigan State beat No. 8 Wisconsin 86-74 on Friday night to snap the Badgers’ seven-game winning streak.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn's absence gives No. 17 Illinois another obstacle to overcome.
The Illini found out how difficult that might be when Donta Scott and Maryland dominated the paint.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Sasha Stefanovic scored 22 points, including a go-ahead 3 at the start of double overtime that sent No. 4 Purdue over No. 17 Illinois 96-88 on Monday.
Illinois guards Andre Curbelo and Alfonso Plummer made baskets in the final seconds of regulation and the first overtime before the Boilermakers (15-2, 4-2 Big Ten) broke away.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 21 points and hauled in 10 rebounds to help No. 25 Illinois beat Michigan 68-53 on Friday night.
“No matter who is on the court, no matter what player it is, I always go out there and try to destroy them and dominate them,” Cockburn said.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 21 points and hauled in 10 rebounds to help No. 25 Illinois over Michigan 68-53 on Friday night.
Both teams struggled from distance in a foul-plagued first half, combining to go 1 of 20 from 3-point range.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Once again Illinois got all it could handle during a visit to Nebraska.
Trent Frazier scored a season-high 29 points, Kofi Cockburn had his eighth straight double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and the 25th-ranked Illini held off the struggling Cornhuskers for a hard-earned 81-71 victory Tuesday night.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn posted his seventh straight double-double, Trent Frazier scored 16 points and Illinois rallied after squandering an early lead to beat Maryland 76-64 on Thursday night.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Kofi Cockburn had 29 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high four blocks for his eighth double-double of the season and Illinois dominated Minnesota 76-53 on Tuesday night for its fourth straight win in the series.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 21 points with 11 rebounds and Alfonso Plummer and Jacob Grandison combined for nine of Illinois' program-record 18 3-pointers in a 106-48 win over St. Francis (Pennsylvania) on Saturday.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — No. 11 Arizona used tough defense to outlast Illinois 83-79 on Saturday and stay undefeated.
Bennedict Mathurin led the Wildcats with 30 points. Trailing the Illini by one with 2:22 to play, Arizona's Azuolas Tubelis capitalized on an offensive rebound by putting in a layup.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 17 points and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds and Illinois scored 24 points at the free-throw line to hold off Iowa, 87-83 on Monday night to go 2-0 to start Big Ten play
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Alfonso Plummer scored 24 points, Kofi Cockburn had a double-double and Illinois cruised to an 86-51 victory over Rutgers on Friday night in the Big Ten opener for both teams.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored 28 points, Alfonso Plummer added 21 and Illinois defeated Notre Dame 82-72 on Monday night in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Cockburn, a preseason All-American and player of the year candidate, leads the nation in scoring at 26.6 points per game.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Paolo Banchero scored 21 points to lead No. 5 Duke over No. 1 Gonzaga 84-81 on Friday night.
Duke (7-0) handed Gonzaga (6-1) its first loss since April’s national title game, when Baylor beat the Bulldogs.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn scored a career-high 38 points to lead No. 14 Illinois to a hard-fought 94-85 win over Texas Rio Grande Valley on Friday night.
Illinois (4-2) started slowly, trailing the Vaqueros by as many as 12 points in the first half.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Andrew Nembhard scored 24 points, freshman Chet Holmgren showed off his unique skill set and top-ranked Gonzaga overwhelmed No. 2 UCLA 83-63 on Tuesday night to win the Empire Classic.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Kofi Cockburn missed the first three games of the season for Illinois for violating NCAA rules, and Alfonso Plummer might as well have missed them given the way his normally reliable shot kept bouncing out.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Cincinnati coach Wes Miller had no idea who he was watching early on against Illinois on Monday night.
Not because he's in his first year with the Bearcats, either.
MILWAUKEE (AP) — Tyler Kolek converted a steal into a go-ahead layup with 18 seconds left and Marquette forced 26 turnovers for a 67-66 comeback victory over No. 10 Illinois on Monday night.
Marquette (3-0) came back from a 12-point deficit in the second half to give new coach Shaka Smart his first signature win, despite going 3 of 9 from the foul line down the stretch.