Busting Brackets
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Big Ten Basketball: 10 key questions for the league entering 2021-22 season

By Trevor Sinodhinos

Mar 14, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Members of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrate with the Big Ten Conference Tournament trophy after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2021; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Members of the Illinois Fighting Illini celebrate with the Big Ten Conference Tournament trophy after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports /
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Big Ten Basketball Trent Frazier Illinois Fighting Illini (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /

Can Trent Frazier be clutch?

At this time last year, there was more excitement in Champaign and the surrounding area than in 1885 when the university changed its name from Illinois Industrial University.  For good reason too, by then, it was official that Ayo Dosunmu and Kofi Cockburn were returning for another season of wearing the orange and blue. This time around, it will just be the 7 foot, 285-pound center Cockburn who will be walking onto the State Farm Center’s floor.

Without a doubt, due to Cockburn’s almost 18 point average, he is going to be an important component of Coach Brad Underwood’s offense.  Thanks to Cockburn’s zero three-point attempts, there is no secret as to where on the floor he will get his shots. Add his 55 percent from the free-throw line, there is a blueprint on how to stop Cockburn, foul, and take your chances, especially down the stretch in a close game.

Last season’s game closer was Dosunmu as he averaged 20 points on over 15 shot attempts per game. Although the one criticism of Dosunmu was the over three turnovers per game, that despite his success in the waning minutes of a game, there was always that concern.

With it being obvious Dosunmu will not have the ball in his hands in “crunch time” the mantle will need to be grabbed by somebody else and there is only one player that meets a number of the criteria. Senior forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili is trying to catch on with the Denver Nuggets, guard Adam Miller who was tied for the most three-point attempts has transferred, and the  2021-22 starting point guard Andre Curbelo had the second-most turnovers per game last season on Illinois.

When the game is on the line it is going to be Trent Frazier who will be looked upon. The fifth-year, senior has 31 games of experience and averaged over 10 points on fewer than eight shots per game, averaged the most threes made per game while averaging one less turnover per game than Curbelo last season.

There is no question that Cockburn will help the Fighting Illini blow a lot of teams out, but look for Frazier to be the one to come up clutch if Illinois is going to win the close ones and improve on their 4-3 record in games decided by five points or less.

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