Why Illini All-Time Leading Scorer Deon Thomas is Kofi Cockburn’s Biggest Fan

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- In the first one-on-one meetings with Kofi Cockburn, Deon Thomas knew exactly who Illinois’ newest post player reminded him of.

“I walked straight up to him and one of the first things I said was you’re still just the second biggest player to walk around this campus,” Thomas said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon.

The biggest? Thomas’ McDonald’s All-America Game in 1989 teammate and maybe the most physically imposing player in the modern era of basketball.

“(Kofi) said ‘really, who is the biggest?’ and I didn’t hesitate. Shaquille O’Neal,” Thomas said. “I told him the same thing I tell a lot of folks. There was a point we really all thought Shaq was coming to Illinois to play.”

Thomas said he remembers O’Neal taking an official campus visit hosted by then-Illini assistant coach Jimmy Collins on a weekend in November 1988. O’Neal eventually committed and signed with LSU just a few months later. However, a roster of the 1989 McDonald’s All-America West team that Thomas and O’Neal were both on shows O’Neal listed at just 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds. Cockburn arrived on the Illini campus this summer listed at an inch taller and 50 pounds bigger.

“Now that you mention that, Shaq’s reputation preceded him and people remember the 300-pounder that played in the NBA,” Thomas said. “But yeah, Kofi’s honestly a much physically bigger body than Shaq would’ve been as a high school prospect. That’s true.”

2️⃣ seasons in a row featuring hugs with @deonthomas25 after @IlliniMBB freshman records were reset #Illini | #JointheFight pic.twitter.com/XeK1sivE5Q
— Illinois Athletics (@IlliniAthletics) November 21, 2019

At the University of Illinois, the connection of history with its modern-day athletes is as vital to anything regarding the school’s athletics department. In Wednesday night’s 85-57 win over The Citadel, the announced crowd of 11,196 at State Farm Center saw in real-time the emotion of history being made. Cockburn, who is having a similar instant impact as Thomas’ first season in Champaign, took over the Illini freshman single-game rebounding record as the Jamaican native went for 18 points and 17 rebounds in 24 minutes. Sitting courtside and doing color analyst work with play-by-play voice Brian Barnhart for the Illini Radio Network was Thomas, the man who owned that record for 28 years, 10 months and 22 days. The school’s freshman single-game rebounding record was only matched by Damir Krupalija on Jan. 3, 1999 at Indiana.

“He was really happy for me," Cockburn said of the embrace he and Thomas had after the game Wednesday night. "He just congratulated me. He told me to keep working.”

After passing this record on to Cockburn, Thomas says “the Illini fan in me couldn’t be more thrilled” to have some of the other milestones in doubt. The 20-year-old who currently leads the Illini in scoring (15.6 points per game) and nearly doubles the next highest Illinois teammate in rebounds (12.6 per game) through five contests this season.

Cockburn one of just three players in a power conference with 17 or more points and 17 or more rebounds this season, joining Minnesota's Daniel Oturu against Utah and West Virginia's Oscar Tshiebew against Pitt. Cockburn is also the first freshman in the nation to have four double-double efforts in his first five collegiate games since Arizona's Deandre Ayton and UNLV's Brandon McCoy in 2017.

“I told some people (Wednesday night) and I believe it that if he stayed four years like I did, my scoring record is in jeopardy,” Thomas said. “I just don’t think the NBA will have to wait that long before the young man takes his talents to that level.”

Thomas still owns the school’s scoring record of 2,129 points and is the only Illinois basketball player to top the 2,000-point plateau in their college career. However, Thomas, who is now part of the University of Illinois athletics development team primarily focused in his hometown of Chicago as an associate director, sheepish said he wasn’t aware early on while he was on the radio air that the 17 rebounds he had as a freshman in a win at The Pyramid against Memphis on Dec. 29, 1990 was one of his records.

“Once I was told that I immediately started cheering for (Cockburn) to stay in and get that next rebound and that next rebound,” Thomas said. “I became a fan while doing something I love, which is calling the Illini games.”

Cockburn is currently on pace to nearly double Efrem Winters’ single-season freshman record mark of 6.9 rebounds per game. Thomas stands second in that category with 6.8 rebounds per game in the 1991 season. As the statistics stand right now, Cockburn would be one of only four freshmen in program history to average 15 points per game (Kiwane Garris’ 15.9 ppg in 1994, Corey Bradford’s 15.4 in 1999 and Thomas’ 15.1 in 1991) and the first post player since Thomas’ freshman campaign 29 years ago.

As soon as Illinois head coach Brad Underwood sat down at the podium for the post-game media conference, the Illini third-year coach paid homage to Thomas.

“My first (thought) was what a hell of a player Deon was,” Underwood joked. “You guys know me and I don’t set a lot of expectations, especially with freshman. “I thought that (freshman rebounding record) was a goal that was within reach for him. I didn’t know it would come five games in or 25 games in, but I thought it would be something he could shoot for. Now he needs to continue building on that and he will.”

At 48 years old, Thomas says he’s ready for his records to be broken.

“I love the University of Illinois and the Illini basketball program and so, I truly get excited at watching the players after me progress, grow and see this coaching staff get their full potential out,” Thomas said. “This current coaching staff is finally getting that level of athlete that should break those records. The way I see it, my records have stood for nearly 30 years because that level of player hasn’t been brought in to challenge them. Now, this coaching staff with Brad (Underwood), Orlando (Antigua) and (Ronald) ‘Chin’ (Coleman) are doing that. It’s a great thing.”