Beat writer Scott Richey is courtside at PPG Paints Arena for Illinois-Chattanooga in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Follow along all night:
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How does Chattanooga intend to defend Illinois center Kofi Cockburn? I’ll let Mocs’ coach Lamont Paris explain it:
“We’re creatures of habit and we try to do the same things that are principle based, so we want to be true to who we are that way,” Paris said. “This is a different type of player, quite frankly, and so you’re going to have to tweak some of the things that you would typically do.
“We’ve got a couple different things that we’re going to look at, but we’re going to keep fresh bodies out there on him at both ends of the floor. I think we have three guys for the most part, four guys that will play the center spot. And so I think they all present a different type of challenge or different type of person guarding Kofi.
“Silvio De Sousa is very powerful in his own right, then we have Avery Diggs who’s our tallest, longest players so he’ll be out there, too. And then some different skill sets offensively that I think will potentially pose a problem for him in terms of having to get out. They normally keep him closer to the basket.
“We have a couple guys that can play in a way that’s a little further away from the basket, and just to see what that looks like for him because it’s not something that they typically have had to do. I was in the Big Ten a long time. There weren’t as many guys that can do that and play that style of basketball.”
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One only minor surprise in Illinois’ starting lineup for today’s game. While Jacob Grandison is dressed and available, Coleman Hawkins holds on to the starting spot. Hawkins put together one of his best games of the season in the Big Ten tournament, finishing with a career-high 18 points to go with four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Grandison can and probably will still contribute off the bench. How the minutes are split, though, will be something to watch. Grandison is coming off a shoulder injury (non-shooting arm) that cost him two games, and he’s now wearing the same kind of brace Trent Frazier’s worn basically all season. How many minutes can he give? How many minutes does Brad Underwood want to take away from Hawkins?
Because Hawkins has found his form again in the last several weeks. He went from just being an energy guy again to being a go-to option against Indiana in the Big Ten tournament. Might be time to ride the hot hand.
Terrell Owens (a Chattanooga legend) in the house chatting with another legend Reggie Miller. #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/wgFbWnkcxy
— Scott Richey (@srrichey) March 18, 2022
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Kofi Cockburn could be narrowing in on his final game at Illinois. There’s no guarantee the junior big man won’t decided to return for another season (the NIL factor is real), but the allure of professional basketball is obviously there.
Not that Cockburn is ready to start thinking about any of that.
“I try not to make it about myself,” he said. “Obviously, like a lot of people know that I have goals. I have aspirations. But I think the biggest thing for me right now is to continue winning. I feel like no matter what I do, if I score the ball or not, it’s just about playing with maximum effort and us winning games. People value winners, so I try to put that above everything else.
“Whatever it takes for me to win these games, advance to the next round, wherever we go, however far we get, just play my best and giving these guys the best chance to get there.”
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Chattanooga forward Silvio De Sousa knows what it takes to defend big men from power conferences. He was one of them, after all, during his time at Kansas. But there’s really only one Kofi Cockburn in college basketball.
“First thing is just respect him,” De Sousa said about the Illinois center. “He’s a good player. He’s having a great season. I just feel like I have to respect his game and just see what he’s going to give me and what I need to improve during the game just to make sure that I can get a stop or a better game. But he’s great, and I’m just looking forward for the matchup.”
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Last year’s loss to Loyola Chicago has lingered over the last year. The abruptness of the end clearly stuck with the Illini. Having to answer questions about it again this month, though, also brought it back to the surface.
“Our loss last year was a huge lesson for us,” Illinois center Kofi Cockburn said. “Coming back especially with the vets that had been through the NCAA Tournament, that we could basically show the younger guys how important it is to come out here and give it your all because you never know when the season could end. It might end like that and it’s a hard feeling. We cried, and it was like a bad locker room, everybody was so emotional inside. We’re trying to prevent that right now, so we’re more eager, we’re more locked in and we’re more focused.”
Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk and Brandin Podziemski first Illinois players on the court. #Illini in throwback script Illinois white jerseys tonight against Chattanooga. pic.twitter.com/UvBg0fIeVN
— Scott Richey (@srrichey) March 18, 2022
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Illinois and Chattanooga will tip off in roughly 90 minutes. The Illini might be taking the “fun” approach to the NCAA tournament this time around, but that doesn’t mean they’re not locked in to their ultimate goal. As in making it to New Orleans.
“Obviously, we approach it differently, having the experience with last year,” Illinois senior guard Trent Frazier said in reference to the 2021 second-round loss to Loyola Chicago. “But I think our mindset is the same; we’re trying to get to where we want to get to as far as New Orleans. But I think as far as the mindset, we have a different approach to our mindset.
“We’re more hungry. Obviously you have three vets up here, but we’re more focused, more locked in. We have the mindset of just trying to kill anything in front of us and making sure nothing stops us. We’ve just got to have good energy and just be focused.”
Band getting the atmosphere going even more. pic.twitter.com/bF0s9rKQN7
— IlliniHQ (@IlliniHQ) March 18, 2022
These fans need to see some #Illini soon. They’re fired up. pic.twitter.com/PlgVlihMRF
— IlliniHQ (@IlliniHQ) March 18, 2022
Brad Underwood leads the #Illini procession. pic.twitter.com/YQu0riU01Q
— IlliniHQ (@IlliniHQ) March 18, 2022
And here are your #Illini players. pic.twitter.com/n56tTUyFsD
— IlliniHQ (@IlliniHQ) March 18, 2022
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So Pittsburgh’s 2 of 2 on not all that entertaining first round games. After the defensive struggle that was Ohio State-Loyola Chicago, Villanova put together a real beating against Delaware in an 80-60 win. So that’s two higher seeds and two double-digit victories to start the day at PPG Paints Arena.
What will Illinois-Chattanooga deliver? Stick around and find out. Tipoff between the Illini and Mocs comes in just less than two hours. I’ll eventually reposition from the hockey press box to my courtside seat and continue our all-day coverage from the NCAA tournament.
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Might have pulled the trigger on the “Upset alert!” update a little early. Delaware stopped making shots (kind of a big deal), and Villanova did not.
Delaware shot 40 percent overall in the first half. Not great, but not terrible. It was the Blue Hens’ 1 of 10 shooting that was the issue. Particularly with Villanova shooting 50 percent overall and 50 percent from beyond the arc.
The Wildcats and Blue Hens scored the same number of points in the paint (18), and Villanova had just 3-0 advantages in both second-chance points and fast break points. So, yeah, three-point shooting made a difference in the first half. Four makes for Villanova and just one for Delaware.
The Blue Hens still have a chance, of course. There’s 20 more minutes of basketball to played. Just have to make a few more (or a lot more) shots.
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Upset alert! Delaware has a 15-8 lead on Villanova with 11:08 left in the first half. Clearly the Blue Hens are trying to prove that Saint Peter’s isn’t the only small school on the east coast capable of the 15-over-2 victory. There’s also … a lot of time left in this game.
Worth noting, however, is that the PPG Paints Arena crowd is kind of a partisan one. Sure, some people are probably just cheering for the potential upset, but there are a lot of blue- and yellow-clad Delaware fans that made the trip to Pittsburgh.
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Next up at PPG Paints Arena is a 2-15 matchup between Villanova and Delaware. The Wildcats are, of course, a heavy favorite. As in a 15-point favorite with tipoff coming in approximately 10 minutes.
Not that Villanova is overlooking Delaware. Particularly not when a No. 2 seed already went down this week with Saint Peter’s beating Kentucky.
“We’ve just seen them run through their conference tournament, and it wasn’t easy for them, but they battled through,” Villanova forward Jermaine Samuels said of the Blue Hens. “They beat some of the top teams in their conference, and they’re battle tested. They’re a great team. They have a lot of experience, and they have a lot of veteran guys who are ready to play and know how to play.”
Veteran Villanova guard Collin Gillespie, of course, had the perspective you’d expect from a guy that’s in his fifth season of college basketball.
“This is one game at a time for us,” said Gillespie, who is known for not being emotional or even all that expressive on or off the court. “Delaware is our most important game because it’s our next game, and that’s the mentality that we have. We don’t talk about championships or anything like that. We kind of just focus on having a growth mindset and becoming the best Villanova basketball team we can by the end. If we could come into the locker room after a game and look each other in the eye, knowing we gave it up for each other and played Villanova basketball for 40 minutes, that’s how we define success.”
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The first round games in Pittsburgh have drawn a pretty good crowd to PPG Paints Arena. Nobody in the building was treated to the most aesthetically pleasing basketball to start the day.
Ohio State took down Loyola Chicago 54-41 in the first game of the day. The Ramblers weren’t quite historically inept offensively. The record for fewest points is North Carolina’s 20 in 1941. But Loyola was still bad, shooting 26.8 percent as a team and just barely making more shots (15) than turnovers committed (14).
Stat of the day from Ohio State-Loyola: In a game with 66 missed shots, there were 5 second-chance points.
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) March 18, 2022
E.J. Liddell took control in the second half for Ohio State. The two-time News-Gazette All-State Player of the Year finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds after putting up just four points and five rebounds in the first half. Malaki Branham was key in the first half for the Buckeyes and put up 14 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists.
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Ohio State has pushed its lead to double figures, 37-26, with 11:18 to play against Loyola Chicago. The Ramblers are … let’s say … playing truly awful on the offensive end. Loyola is shooting 24 percent from the field, is just 3 of 15 on layups, has turned it over 10 times and scoring just 0.565 points per possession. In case you were wondering, that’s alarmingly bad.
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Ohio State has a 23-18 lead on Loyola Chicago as we head to halftime of the first of four games today at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The Buckeyes can thank Malaki Branham for that lead. The Ohio State freshman guard finished the half with 10 points, three assists and two rebounds and was able to get out in transition and finish at the rim a couple times.
It was a sloppy first half, though. Lots of turnovers, fouls and missed shots. For both teams. Loyola gets a couple more shots to fall — maybe it is the ball? — and it’s a different game in the first half. The Ramblers certainly aren’t out of it, though. Should make for at least an intriguing second half. Maybe an exciting one if both teams clean it up.
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So … Ohio State and Loyola Chicago are playing. Just can’t say it’s good basketball. The Buckeyes have a 9-7 lead with 11:44 remaining in the first half. A first half that has seen a combined seven turnovers and seven fouls. Maybe there’s something about those new basketballs that apparently every player (or at least all of Iowa’s) hates.
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We’ve got Ohio State vs. Loyola Chicago to start the day here at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. A quick check of the line shows it has flipped back to the Ramblers as a one-point favorite. That’s where the line opened Sunday, but it had moved to the Buckeyes as a one-point favorite Thursday.
Basically … even money is being wagered on both teams. Ohio State as the supposed favorite (by seed) from the Big Ten. Loyola as everybody’s new favorite team to pull an upset (by seed).
“(E.J.) Liddell is a mismatch problem,” Loyola coach Drew Valentine said Thursday. “He’s a mismatch problem for everybody in the country. He’s an All-American for a reason. I saw a ton of him in high school, obviously, with being from the state, so a lot of respect for him.”
There was a late change for Ohio State’s starting lineup, though, that will take a bit of pressure off Liddell. Kyle Young wasn’t initially listed as a starter, but the veteran big man is apparently good to go after missing the last three games while in concussion protocol.
“I think it’s activity for one,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said about Young’s impact on the Buckeyes. “He’s really active. And it is versatility. It’s activity and versatility, and then he helps our rebounding a lot, too. I think those two things. He’s also gotten smarter as he’s gotten older in how to defend and play. You know, just the versatility that he provides. I feel like I’ve banged that drum for months now. I feel like that’s really important.”
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The first full day of NCAA tournament games only solidified the fact March Madness is the world’s greatest sporting event.
16 more games! ?Can’t wait #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/n44zO1nznc
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 18, 2022
Some highly-seeded teams were challenged and then pulled out all the stops to turn their first-round matchup into a rout. Looking at you Gonzaga. Other top teams simply cruised. Baylor and Kansas didn’t give their opponents much of a chance.
Then there were the higher-ranked teams that crumbled. Kentucky. Iowa. UConn. Mostly Kentucky.
Saint Peter’s taking down the Wildcats in overtime was the highlight of the night. (No offense to Teddy Allen and New Mexico State or Richmond completely bottling up Iowa’s Keegan Murray in the second half).
Here’s hoping today delivers more of the same. I’ll be posted up somewhere at PPG Paints Arena for the entire slate of games in Pittsburgh. The days starts with Ohio State-Loyola Chicago — what a juicy matchup — before Delaware tries to pull a Saint Peter’s and knock off No. 2-seeded Villanova.
How far will @IlliniMBB go in @MarchMadnessMBB?@TheAndyKatz breaks down the path to New Orleans for the Illini: pic.twitter.com/hScbhrI4BI
— Illinois on BTN (@IllinoisOnBTN) March 18, 2022
Then comes the game everyone that regularly rocks orange and blue is excited to see. Illinois-Chattanooga at 5:50 p.m. on TNT and WDWS 1400-AM/93.9 FM. Illini fans, presumably, are counting on upsets to happen elsewhere. Houston-UAB will wrap up the full day of basketball in western Pennsylvania.
Follow along right here for complete coverage.
Scott Richey covers college basketball for The News-Gazette. His email is srichey@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@srrichey).