The Latest Breaking News from Kofi Cockburn

Twelve players scored for the Illini as they used their depth to turn away the Panthers.

“The world is not a fair place,” Cockburn said. “Sometimes, you have to take what life gives you.”

Cockburn might not even be drafted next month. That’s not something a first-team All-American last season wants to contemplate.

“I’m closing one of the most amazing chapters of my life,” Cockburn told ESPN on Wednesday. “I’m proud of what we accomplished in college, but I am not sure it can get much better than that.”

A pair of SEC teams lead our first look at next year, but there’s plenty of roster movement to come.

PITTSBURGH — Watching Illinois go through its dunking drills before Friday’s game against Chattanooga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament was a treat for the early-arriving crowd at PPG Paints Arena.

CHICAGO — Illinois’ chances of getting to the Final Four in New Orleans rest on the big shoulders of Kofi Cockburn, which should make Illini Nation feel pretty good heading into Friday’s first-round game against Chattanooga.

The Fighting Illini never had a first-team pick until Ayo Dosunmu made it last season when Cockburn was voted to the second team.

Trent Frazier and Coleman Hawkins wore sunglasses to their news conference Sunday after getting the word Illinois had earned a No. 4 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament, where they’ll take on 13th-seeded Chattanooga in a first-round game at 5:50 p.m. Friday in Pittsburgh (TNT).