Freshmen in spotlight as No. 21 Arizona hosts Illinois

Freshman Zeke Nnaji made the best first impression among No. 21 Arizona's seven newcomers, but he and the Wildcats will have a tougher challenge in Game 2 against Illinois on Sunday in Tucson, Ariz.

Nnaji scored a team-high 20 points on 9-of-12 shooting in an easy win over smaller Northern Arizona on Wednesday, when coach Sean Miller compared the 6-foot-11 forward to former Arizona star forward Derrick Williams.

"He's not a big, strong guy who can't move. He's a big strong guy who can really move," Miller said of Nnaji. "The sky's the limit."

That's how Illinois (2-0) feels about its 7-foot, 290-pound freshman, Kofi Cockburn. He muscled his way to 23 points and 14 rebounds in Friday night's 83-71 win over Grand Canyon in Phoenix. He has opened his college career with two double-doubles.

"Kofi showed some of his dominance, just being able to post hard and being able to put fouls on people," Illinois coach Brad Underwood said on his postgame radio show. "He makes you do something different in guarding him. ...

"Sunday will be a little different. You have a very, very big Arizona team. They have an outstanding freshman in their own right in Zeke Nnaji."

The Illini had a plus-26 rebounding margin vs. the Antelopes after posting a plus-30 margin in a season-opening victory over Nicholls State. Giorgi Bezhanishvili, a 6-9 sophomore forward, has started all 35 games of his career, and the Illini have excellent rebounding guards.

Nnaji was a four-star recruit but was only the third-highest-rated member of Arizona's freshman class, behind point guard Nico Mannion and wing Josh Green, both of whom are also starters.

"He's a freshman, but it doesn't seem like he plays like that," said Wildcats senior forward Stone Gettings, a transfer from Cornell. "I've been going at him for the past three, four months now and it's not too surprising, to say the least. He's been killing it every day."

Mannion was steady in his debut, with nine points and one turnover. Green, who posted 10 points and six rebounds, is the type of long, physical defender Miller loves on the perimeter.

Arizona has a deep frontcourt with senior Chase Jeter at center, Gettings being a sharp-shooter off the bench (3 of 4 from behind the arc against NAU), Ira Lee providing energetic minutes and 7-foot freshman Christian Koloko showing intriguing upside with six rebounds in 12 minutes in the opener.

"You can see it, we're a deep team," Miller said. "I hope we can stay deep by having a good stretch of health with a lot of guys that can contribute."

Arizona's roster is filled with NBA draft prospects, and Illinois is likely to end a seven-year drought of draft picks with guard Ayo Dosunmu, who pulled his name out of the 2019 draft and is projected by some to be a 2020 first-rounder.

Dosunmu, who averaged 13.8 points per game as a freshman, is at 15.0 points through two games this season.

Guard Andres Feliz has 44 points and 17 rebounds in two games.

Sunday's game is the opener of a home-and-home series that concludes in December 2020 in Champaign, Ill. Arizona leads the series 8-6 but suffered one of its most painful losses when it squandered a 15-point lead with less than four minutes to go as Illinois rallied to win 90-89 in overtime in a 2005 NCAA regional final in Rosemont, Ill.

--Field Level Media