B1G Release

Champaign, ILL. -- Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (Kingston, Jamaica/Oak Hill Academy-Va.) has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, the conference office announced on Monday. He earns the award after averaging 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 80% from the field (12-15) and nearly 89% from the line (8-9) in a pair of games last week.

This is already the third Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor for Cockburn, the most ever by an Illini dating back to 2010-11 when the league began honoring a weekly outstanding freshman performer.

Big Ten Freshman of the Week

Kofi Cockburn, Illinois
C, 7-0, 290, Kingston, Jamaica, Oak Hill Academy (Va.)
• Averaged 16.0 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 12-of-15 (80%) from the floor and 8-of-9 (88.9%) from the foul line in a pair of games
• Tied career-high with 23 points  in 23 minutes against Miami in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, his third 20-point game of the season
• Shot a perfect 8-of-8 from the floor against the Hurricanes, the best mark by a Big Ten player this season, and best by an Illini since 2016
• At No. 3 Maryland, tallied nine points and grabbed team-high eight rebounds in 22 minutes
• Earns the third Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor of his career
• Becomes the first Illinois player to earn Freshman of the Week three times in a season in Big Ten history
• Leads all Big Ten freshmen in scoring at 15.4 ppg (6th overall), rebounding at 10.7 rpg (2nd overall), and field goal percentage at 61.6% (2nd overall) on the year