Mike Woodson Expects Michael Durr to Play Role in Defending Kofi Cockburn on Saturday
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — A lot was made of the role that Michael Durr played in Indiana's upset of No. 4 Purdue back on Jan. 20. He played a season-high 23 minutes and made life miserable for the Boilermakers' two-headed monster at center with Zach Edey and Trevion Williams.
And then he basically disappeared.
Durr played poorly three days later in the disappointing home loss to Michigan, and then didn't play at all in the wins against Penn State and Maryland.
"I just didn't play him those few games. It was coach's decision, and I think I have that right if I don't feel like playing the guy,'' Indiana coach Mike Woodson said Friday.
But Woodson, of course, also has the right to play him when he needs the 7-foot transfer from South Florida, and that's certainly the case when the burly Kofi Cockburn and his Illinois teammates show up at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Saturday to take on the Hoosiers.
"Yeah, this is the game where he's got to be ready,'' Woodson said of Durr. "That's all I'm going to tell you, because we've got a monster in the middle (Cockburn) that somebody's got to deal with. So be ready.''
Cockburn is 7-foot and 285 pounds, and he's a handful on the blocks with all of his strength. He's also the biggest reason why Illibois (16-5, 9-2 in the Big Ten) is on top of the league standings right now. Indiana starter Trayce Jackson-Davis is much quicker and had better post moves, but he gives up 40 pounds and needs to stay out of foul trouble. So it's incumbent on Durr to lend a hand, as well as every other player on the floor for Indiana.
"There's no big secret. It's what it is,'' Woodson said in preparing for Illinois' attack, which always goes through Cockburn. "This last game — (an 80-67 win over Wisconsin on Wednesday) — they milked him until they couldn't milk him no more, in terms of throwing it into him and him dominating the inside game. I mean, that's where their strengths are.
"It was kind of like a one-man show with him dominating the paint. So, I mean, listen, he's not going to disappear on us. We know we've got to play him. And we've got to play guys on the perimeter.''
Illinois has perimeter shooters all over the floor, much like Purdue did, so the challenges are similar. It has helped that Indiana hasn't played since last Saturday — a 68-55 win at Maryland — so they've had plenty of time to prepare for Illinois.
"Purdue had the same kind of set up in terms of perimeter play and two big guys, and it was a battle,'' Woodson said. "I mean, Kofi is good. He's NBA-ready. That's kind of how I look at it, and we're going to have to play him. You just can't run from him. We've got to commit ourselves to playing him and playing the guys that are out on the perimeter.''
Illinois is second in the Big Ten in three-pointers made, behind only Purdue, and guard Alfonso Plummer leads the league with 63 made threes. Trent Frazier (45) and Jacob Grandison (41) are both in the top 13 in the league, too.
The Illini, in other words, can hurt you in a lot of different ways.
"If you watched their team last year, their spacing was not like it is this year,'' Woodson said. "They are more spaced out this year, which makes it more difficult to double-team and get back to the shooters.
They've got guys that can make shots. They're averaging (9.4) threes a game, so you're going to have to deal with both of them. I don't know how you can get around it. Our defensive attackers have just got to be on par in terms of being able to fight him inside. And then we've got to scramble to get the shooters. We've got to do that as well.''
Indiana is third in the league in three-point defense (30.8 percent), and they mostly done a good job of keeping shooters in check. So far this season, through 21 games, opponents are 148-for-481 from deep, a 30.8 percent average. That's 7.05 threes per game.
But in the Hoosiers' five losses, teams are averaging three extra made three-pointers per game, and the percentage allowed in wins (27.8 percent) compared to the losses is substantial
Here's what's happened from deep in those five losses:
- Syracuse (Nov. 30): 13-for-34 (38.2 percent)
- Wisconsin (Dec. 8): 5-for-23 (21.7 percent)
- Penn State (Jan. 2): 11-for-22 (50.0 percent)
- Iowa (Jan. 13): 6-for-18 (33.3 percent)
- Michigan (Jan. 23): 11-for-17 (64.7 percent)
- TOTAL IN 5 LOSSES: 46-for-114, 40.3 percent and 9.2 threes per game
- TOTAL IN 16 LOSSES: 102-for-367, 27.8 percent, and 6.3 threes per game.
That Wisconsin game looks like an outlier, but they made four of those in the second half during their big comeback, and Johnny Davis hit a three late to win the game for the Badgers. They got blitzed early by Syracuse, late by Penn State and all game long by Wisconsin.
So covering the three is critical on Saturday, because it's clear that it's been the difference between winning and losing for the Hoosiers.
"We've played against good guards this year, and Frazier and Plummer are very talented guards,'' Woodson said. Again, we can't run from it; we've got to play them. We've got to keep them in front of us, we've got to defend the three and we've got to defend their inside game.
"I mean, they've got the total package. And we've got to defend it if we're going to give ourselves a chance to win.''
The game starts at Noon ET and is being televised on ESPN. The early start can be concerning, because slow starts simply can't happen against a team like Illinois.
"It doesn't matter to me, because we've had some early games,'' Woodson said. I can't recall the game, but I know there might have been one early game that we came out flat. (It was Nebraska, a Noon ET game in December, when the Hoosiers fell behind by double-digits early before winning.) We can't have that against Illinois. We've got to come out ready to play, just like we were ready to play in the Maryland game.
"Even though they jumped us, we were still engaged and ready. I thought the Penn State game, we were really ready to play. The Purdue game, we were ready to play. We can't be flat. We've got to come out ready to compete for 40 minutes because they're going to force you to do that.''
Watch full Mike Woodson interview
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