Big Ten Basketball: Illinois rises, Iowa falls in latest power rankings

When the Fighting Illini was going through their big struggles to start the season, they were doing so without All-American big man Kofi Cockburn, who was serving a suspension due to violating NCAA rules regarding profiting from selling his apparel and memorabilia in the offseason before rules were changed regarding NIL.

And while Cockburn was out, sophomore point guard Andre Curbelo really struggled out the gate and couldn’t lead an offense to victory. A head injury has limited him to just four games on the season and hasn’t played in over a month.

The good news for Illinois is that one player has emerged in a big way in Alfonso Plummer. The Utah transfer is second on the team with 17.3 ppg on incredibly efficient shooting numbers at 50-45-97 splits. He has scored at least 19 points in seven straight games, including 24 against Rutgers and 21 against Iowa in Illinois’ two early league victories.

Plummer has replaced Curbelo as the other combo piece in the 1-2 punch with Cockburn (21.8 ppg and 12.1 rpg). The supporting cast has also been solid, with both Trent Frazier and Jacob Grandison each averaging over double figures while forward Coleman Hawkins has had a few big games as well. And even though he’s scoring just 3.6 ppg to this point, Da’Monte Williams has also had a fairly big impact as well, second on the team with 5.6 rpg and 3.4 apg in the starting lineup.

The brought start took the Illini out of the top 25 mix but winners of seven of the last eight, look for them to eventually get back in sooner rather than later. And once Curbelo comes back healthy, the backcourt will only get better to complement Cockburn, who is making another All-American case.