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Illinois 7-footer Kofi Cockburn accidentally drops official during celebration

Dustin Schutte

By Dustin Schutte

Published:

A B1G basketball official may be more aware of his surroundings the next time he’s on the basketball court. Illinois seven-foot center Kofi Cockburn is the reason behind it.

Wednesday night, Illinois was hosting No. 5 Michigan in an early-season B1G matchup in a game that was close most of the way. Late in the second half, Cockburn grabbed an offensive rebound, scored a bucket and was able to draw a foul to set up a potential three-point play. Cockburn swung his arm in celebration, but an official was on the wrong end of it.

The official dropped to the floor and then left the game for a few minutes to recover. Below is the clip of the official taking the fist to the face:

https://twitter.com/AdamSpencer4/status/1204973041622474752

Hopefully the official is doing well after that hit. From a seven-footer, he’s probably still feeling it in the morning.

Illinois did go on to pull off the upset at home, defeating Michigan 71-62. Both the Fighting Illini and the Wolverines are now 1-1 in B1G play.

 

Dustin Schutte

Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB