Illinois and Minnesota Split Week Eight Big Ten Honors

The Big Ten released its weekly award winners for week eight of the regular season and two teams ended up splitting the awards. Minnesota’s Daniel Oturu was named Big Ten Player of the Week and Illinois’ Kofi Cockburn was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week.

Oturu had an outstanding week of play highlighted by his performance against FIU on Saturday. He finished with 21 points and 20 rebounds in the game. He was the first Big Ten player with a 20-20 double-double since DeShawn Sims did it in 2008. This is the first time he has been named Big Ten Player of the Week during his career.

Additionally, Cockburn had a big week as well. The Illini faced North Carolina A&T on Sunday and the freshman forward finished with 26 points in the week. This is the fifth time Cockburn has earned the award.

Congratulations are in order for both players. Don’t be surprised if these two show back up on this list given how they have played to date.