CHAMPAIGN — Kofi Cockburn lingered at the north end of Lou Henson Court on Saturday afternoon following Illinois’ 75-60 victory against Wisconsin watching teammate Ayo Dosunmu conduct his sociallly-distanced postgame interview with FOX broadcasters Kevin Kugler and Donny Marshall.
Dosunmu had grabbed a seat on the scorer’s table. The FOX crew was on the concourse level. And Cockburn wasn’t heading back to the locker room until he had congratulated his teammate on a rather impressive performance.
The eventual celebration was actually mutual.
Dosunmu got the postgame interview nod after messing around and getting a triple-double against the Badgers with 21 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. Cockburn was just as good, re-securing his place as the national double-doubles leader with 23 points and 14 rebounds.
“That’s one of my best friends,” Dosunmu said. “We both have that knack for being great. … We want to come out here and make the university proud and make everyone rooting for us proud.”
The way Saturday’s game played out was sort of the plan Illinois coach Brad Underwood had when he recruited Dosunmu in the Class of 2018 and then added Cockburn in the next one. The Illini roster needed an infusion of talent. Stacking recruiting classes one on top of the other is the best way to do it.
“You never know how your best-laid plans will sometimes work out, but we knew we had two young men who were very, very high character and had a great desire to work and to get better,” Underwood said. “That’s a great, great starting point. … I think both of them are not just great friends, but I think they’re both very intelligent in understanding that they help each other.
“Ayo’s a better player because he’s got Kofi. Kofi’s a better player because Ayo’s there. Basketball takes five, and when you’ve got two guys like that who play that well together, it makes it fun and easier for everybody else.”
That Dosunmu and Cockburn could deliver a 1-2 thumping of Wisconsin on Saturday, of course, only happened because they both decided to return for the 2020-21 season.
Their decisions — made on consecutive days last summer — altered the course of this Illinois basketball season.
The process leading up to those decisions is where Dosunmu and Cockburn’s bond became even tighter. Both were debating whether to take the next step in their college basketball careers, forgoing any more eligibility at Illinois to take a shot at the NBA.
A single phone call during that process forged an even-closer relationship between the two.
“I called him, and we were on the phone for like four hours,” Dosunmu said. “We literally talked about everything. All the scenarios. How good we could be if we came back. It was just a very genuine phone call. Since that day, we’ve just been close. If you see us anywhere, we’re always together.”
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has played a part, too. The Illinois bubble is small one, and the players basically spend all of their time together — either at Ubben Basketball Complex or the apartment building where they live. That’s allowed Dosunmu and Cockburn to foster an even-deeper friendship than they already had.
“It’s just about spending time with each other, finding out stuff about each other,” Cockburn said. “I know basically all of Ayo’s family. I know who he is as a person. That creates a really interesting bond when we get on the court because now we trust each other off the court and have that relationship and that bond.
“When we get on the court, it’s all about us. It’s all about doing what we do and just trusting each other that we’re going to pick up each other and make each other better.”
Dosunmu and Cockburn’s connection on the court was on full display Saturday against Wisconsin. The pick-and-roll action between the two gave the Badgers fits. Dosunmu finished at the rim with ease, and Cockburn scored 16 of his 23 points on dunks.
“Our chemistry definitely is in sync in a lot of games, but I would say definitely this game it really got better,” Dosunmu said after the win against Wisconsin. “I watch so much film on my game to see how I can improve to help our team win, and I’ve seen so many times where Kofi can just catch it and just go be so ferocious, so powerful. That’s just me wanting to win so bad trying to look for him and give him the ball. I know he’s shooting 70 percent. I just play the odds. He’s going to score if he gets it seven out of 10 times. So why not look for him each time I have the ball?”
Underwood appreciates what he has in Dosunmu and Cockburn. Both are legitimate potential All-Big Ten and All-American selections come the season’s end. Illinois likely wouldn’t be ranked as the No. 6 team in the country without them.
“I’ve been blessed to be around a lot of really good ones,” Underwood said. “I know how good they are, but it’s fun because they’re so dialed in to the University of Illinois. They’re so dialed in to our program and helping make it great. Along the way, they’re doing a lot of great things for themselves.”
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