Coleman Hawkins leads No. 23 Illinois to season-opening win over Eastern Illinois

Nov. 9—CHAMPAIGN — Guys like Kofi Cockburn, Trent Frazier and Da'Monte Williams were mainstays in the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball starting lineup for the past three seasons.

With all three of them moving onto other opportunities this year, Illinois took the floor on Monday night for the 2022-23 season opener against Eastern Illinois with a relatively brand-new team.

But, it was one of three returners, junior Coleman Hawkins, that provided the spark that led the Fighting Illini to an 87-57 victory over the Panthers before 12,938 at the State Farm Center.

"It's a lot different," said Hawkins. "It's the same offense, but you don't have that dominant presence. You don't know that Kofi is going to be there and that's where you have to get him the ball.

"It's differently a lot different without Kofi."

Hawkins, who at 6-foot-10, is starting at the center position for Illinois and he finished with 23 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Very similar numbers to what Cockburn averaged for the Illini, but Hawkins did it in a completely different fashion as he was 5-of-8 from 3-point range.

"Coleman Hawkins can't shoot, never been able to shoot," said a sarcastic Illinois coach Brad Underwood implying that media members and fans had a preconceived opinion about Hawkins. "He is that stretch 5-game that can step out and get some pick and pop 3s."

His five 3-points and 23 points were both career-highs from Hawkins.

"I feel a lot more confident. I shoot a lot of shots in practice just like that," he said. "I know, my freshman year and my sophomore year, people judged me off my 3-point shooting and I wasn't confident at all back then.

"The ball felt a lot different than what it does right now."

Underwood said that Hawkins shooting ability is one of the main reasons that the Fighting Illini recruited him from Prolific Prep and Sacramento, Calif.

"I thought he had the ability to play the 3-4-5 (positions) when we recruited him," said the coach. "I don't know about last year. It was bizarre. He always made them in practice.

"Now, he is confident. Now he is comfortable. He is a ton to handle because he is also an elite passer. He becomes a challenge at that spot."

But senior teammate Terrence Shannon Jr., a transfer from Texas Tech, expects Hawkins to always take those shots.

"He doesn't have a choice. He's got to shoot all the shots he has when he is open," said Shannon, who finished with a game-high 24 points in his first game with the Fighting Illini.

Not only did Hawkins contribute significantly from the center position, but his backup, sophomore transfer Dain Dainja, came into the game to contribute a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

"That's 50 and 22 rebounds," said Underwood, failing with his math skills as Hawkins and Dainja actually combined for 40 points and 22 rebounds. "We missed Kofi, right? That's pretty good numbers from that spot. There are a lot of ways to get them."

There are also a lot of different ways to play the game.

This Illinois team looks like it's going to be based on athleticism, length and tremendous defensive pressure.

"Their physicality and their pressure just had us sped up," said Eastern Illinois coach Marty Simmons. "I thought we did some decent things at times, but we could never really get into what we wanted to do."

The Panthers (0-1) finished with 18 turnovers and they shot just 35 percent (21-of-60) from the field.

"I thought the effort was very, very good," Underwood said. "The execution, on the other hand, wasn't great. We are finding that fine line between playing with pace and understanding when it's not there."

That was evident as the Illini (1-0) committed 15 turnovers and they struggled from the free-throw line, making just 18-of-33 with Shannon converting 13 of 15, leaving the other 11 players making just 5-of-18.

"Can't win big game doing both of those poorly," Underwood said. "Those are growing pains. Guys have to get in and get comfortable."

Next up for Illinois is an 8 p.m. contest this Friday against Missouri-Kansas City at the State Farm Center.

Kinyon Hodges had a team-high 14 points for the Panthers, while Yaakema Rose added 10.