It was easy to discount Illinois‘ loss at Marquette last week because, you know, the Illini were without Kofi Cockburn, and any team missing its best player (who doubles as a consensus All-American) is susceptible to being upset on the road.
That’s basketball.
But what happened Monday night was a different deal. This wasn’t a road game without Kofi Cockburn. This was a neutral-site game with Kofi Cockburn against a Cincinnati team picked to finish sixth in the American Athletic Conference. So the fact that the Illini were blown completely out qualifies as a super-surprising and troubling development.
Final score: Cincinnati 71, Illinois 51.
The Illini were 9.5-point favorites. They lost by 20.
“[Cincinnati] played harder than we did, which is very unacceptable for me to stomach,” said Illinois coach Brad Underwood. “They were the more physical team.”
The Illini were a total mess offensively against Cincinnati. They took 57 shots, missed 41 of them and finished with just two more field goals (16) than turnovers (14). They shot 28.1% from the field and 13.6% from 3-point range. Trent Frazier finished 0-of-9 from the field with zero points in 33 minutes.
So Illinois is now 2-2 with no quality wins and a pair of losses to teams ranked outside of the top-70 at KenPom. That’s a dismal start to this season and reason enough to remove the Illini from Tuesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. They’ve been replaced by Ohio State, which beat Seton Hall 79-76 on Monday. The Buckeyes’ next game is Wednesday against a Florida team that’s ranked 22nd in the Top 25 And 1. OSU is 24th.
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Top 25 And 1 rankings
Biggest Movers
3
Ohio State
9
Seton Hall
IN: Ohio State
OUT: Illinois
