More Giorgi & Kofi Combo?: Underwood Hints He’ll Play Two Illini Bigs More

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood suggests he’s having Giorgi Bezhanishvili practice more at the four spot with center Kofi Cockburn.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- If Brad Underwood is to be believed, Illinois is positioning to have Giorgi Bezhanishvili back on the floor in the spot he saw a majority of his playing time last season.

The Illini’s fourth-year head coach suggested that his staff is having Bezhanishvili work more at the four spot of the lineup alongside center Kofi Cockburn instead of having the junior forward guarding the 7-foot, 290-pounder with the second-team.

Illinois Fighting Illini center Kofi Cockburn (21) celebrates with forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) after scoring during the first half against the Missouri Tigers at Enterprise Center :: Jeff Curry/USA TODAY Sports

Illinois (3-1), which fell only one spot in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll after suffering a 82-69 loss to No. 2 Baylor last week, have started the same five players (Ayo Dosunmu, Trent Frazier, Adam Miller, Da’Monte Williams and Cockburn) in its first four games. This trend is likely to continue Tuesday night when they play at No. 10 Duke (2-1) for a 8:30 p.m. CST tip on ESPN as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

However, Underwood’s starting lineup has not traditionally dictated his crunch time lineup. Last season, the Illini essentially used three different starting lineups when the roster was completely healthy as they shuffled senior Andres Feliz, Bezhanishvili and Williams at the start of games but according to Ken Pomeroy’s statistical analysis, they used Williams at the four and Feliz at one of the wing guard spots most frequently by a wide margin.

Graphic courtesy of KenPom.com

In the first four games of the 2020-21 season, Illinois has seen the lineup of Dosunmu, Frazier, Miller, Williams and Cockburn used for nearly a third of the minutes played. Bezhanishvili has seen playing time at the four spot with Cockburn in only 5.2 percent of the minutes played.

“Something we’ve spent a good amount of time in practice over the last two, three weeks is getting him slid back over to the four and with Kofi,” Underwood said. “We all know he can score. We know he’s very effective in the post.”

Bezhanishvili had a individual breakout offensive performance Wednesday night versus Baylor as the Georgian native finished with 15 points, his most points since tallying 16 against The Citadel on Nov. 20, 2019, on 7-of-10 shooting, equaling his scoring total from the season’s first three games. Bezhanishvili provided 13 first-half points while Cockburn was plagued with early foul trouble.

“I just had to step up and Kofi is a great player who isn’t going to have nights like that but I had to stay ready and pick up for him” Bezhanishvili said after the loss to Baylor. “We learned that even the little things and little mistakes are what cost you the most in games like this.”

Underwood said Monday that initially he wanted to begin this season with Bezhanishvili at the center, which he played two years ago in his freshman season before Cockburn committed or even arrived on campus, for two reasons.

“I came back from a walk and I’m in the (hotel) lobby and Giorgi was in there and he was talking about how uptight he was, nervous he was and how he had butterflies and how much he loved that,” Underwood said. “So, I knew he was ready. His focus was incredible. We kept trying to get him the ball because we knew it would either be a bucket or a foul.”

The Illini staff believed, so far correctly, that Bezhanishvili would be an effective practice defender for Cockburn and would help the younger freshmen (Andre Curbelo and Coleman Hawkins) into the overall team defense concepts as the Illini bigs are usually in control of calling out how to playing any perimeter screening action.

Illinois Fighting Illini forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili (15) and center Kofi Cockburn (21) celebrate after the second half of a 2019 game against the Michigan Wolverines at State Farm Center :: Patrick Gorski/USA TODAY Sports

Also, Bezhanishvili’s role as the arguably one of the best backup bigs in the nation would allow Illinois to play more in transition by inserting Williams, a 6-foot-3 wing who plays stronger and bigger than his frame exists, around a single big.

Despite playing a smaller, four-guard lineup, Illinois is second in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage and within the nation’s top 50 defensively in field goal percentage on two-point field goals.

“Why do you guys think that I play Da’Monte all the time? Da’Monte as a freshman was able to pick all those (defensive) things up and was so smart,” Underwood said. “He’s got a seven-foot wingspan and he’s one of the strongest guys on our team. I don’t have to worry one second about the defensive end or rebounding the ball with him.”

Duke has proven this season they can roll out consistent frontcourt depth and may force the Illini to play a bigger lineup more minutes Tuesday night. The Blue Devils are likely to start sophomore Matthew Hurt, who is at 6-foot-9 forward with 3-point range that Underwood compared Monday to Iowa All-America forward Luka Garza, and he could be paired with athletic 6-foot-9 forward Jalen Johnson. The Hurt-Johnson duo is averaging nearly half of the Blue Devils shot attempts and Mike Krzyzewski’s squad also has 7-foot freshman center Mark Williams along with 6-foot-8 forward Jaemyn Brakefield off the bench.

“The one thing Duke can do and Jalen Johnson is excellent at is they can all rebound and push in transition,” Underwood said. “This could be a game that really gets up and down.”